Skip to main content

Full text of "The theosophical glossary"

See other formats 


Google 



This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on Hbrary shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 

to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 

publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we liave taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 
We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 

at |http : //books . google . com/| 



\ 



I 



(^Lc^oo fg.&c^oUt^^' 



« 






. 



The 



THEOSOPHICAL 



GLOSSARY 



BY 



H, P. Blavatsky, 

AUTHOR OF "ISIS UNVEILED", "THE SECRET DOCTRINE", "THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY ", ETC.. ETC. 



IToniron : 

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, 

7, Duke Street, Adelphi, W.C. 

The Path Office: 132, Nassau Street, New York, U.S.A. 

The Theosophist Office : Adyar, Madras, India. 

1892 



Women's Printing Society, Limited, 
21 B, Gkeat College Street, Westminster. 



PREFACE. 



The T lieosophical Glossary labours under the disadvantage of being 
an almost entirely posthumous work, of which the author only saw 
the first thirty- two pages in proof. This is all the more regrettable, 
for H.P.B., as was her wont, was adding considerably to her 
original copy, and would no doubt liave increased the volume far 
beyond its present limits, and so have thrown light on many 
obscure terms that are not included in the present Glossary, and 
more important still, have furnished us with a sketch of the lives 
and teachin;.^s of the most famous Adepts of the East and West. 

The Theosophkal Glossary purposes to give information on the 
principal Sanskrit, Pahlavi, Tibetan, Pali, Chaldean, Persian, 
Scandinavian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Kabalistic and Gnostic 
words, and ( )ccult terms generally used in Theosophical literature, 
and principally to be found in I sis Unveiled, Esoteric Buddhism, Ttie 
Secret Doi trine, Tlie Key to Tlieosophy, etc. ; and in the monthly 
magazines, The Theosophist, Lucifer and TJu Path, etc., and other 
publications of the Theosophical Society. The articles marked 
f W.W.W.] , which explain words found in the Kabalah, or which illus- 
trate Rosicrucian or Hermetic doctrines, were contributed at the 
special request of H.P.B. by Bro. W. W. Westcott, M.B., P.M. and 
P.Z., who is the Secretary General of the Rosicrucian Society, 
and Praemonstrator of the Kabalah to the Hermetic Order of 
the G.D. 

H.P.B. desired also to express her special indebtedness, as far 
as the tabulation of facts is concerned, to the Sanskrit-Chimse 
Dictionary of Eitel, The Hindu Classical Dictionary of Dowson, The 
Vishnu Purdna of Wilson, and the Royal Masonic Cyclopadia of 
Kenneth Mackenzie. 

As the undersigned can make no pretension to the elaborate 
and extraordinary scholarship requisite for the editing of the 
multifarious and polyglot contents of H.P.B.'s last contribution to 
Theosophical literature, there must necessarily be mistakes of 
transliteration, etc., which specialists in scholarship will at once 
detect. Meanwhile, however, as nearly every Orientalist has his 
own system, varying transliterations may be excused in the 
present work, and not be set down entirely to the " Karma " of 
the editor. 

G. R. S. MEAD. 
London, January, 189'^. 




Women's Pk 
IB, Gkeat Colj 



THEOSOPHICAL 
GLOSSARY. 



A. 

/\ . — The first letter in all the world-alphabets save a few, such 
for instance as the Mongolian, the Japanese, the Tibetan, the 
Ethiopian, etc. It is a letter of great mystic power and ** magic virtue " 
with those who have adopted it, and with whom its numerical value is one. 
It is the AUph of the Hebrews, symbolized by the Ox or Bull ; the Alpha 
of the Greeks, the one and the first ; the ^4^ of the Slavonians, signifying 
the pronoun ** I " (referring to the " I am that I am "). Even in 
Astrology, Taurus (the Ox or Bull or the Aleph) is the first of the 
•Zodiacal signs, its colour being white and yellow. The sacred AUph 
acquires a still more marked sanctity with the Christian Kabalists when 
they learn that this letter typifies the Trinity in Unity, as it is composed 
of two Yods^ one upright, the other reversed with a slanting bar or nexus, 
thus — «. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie states that "the St. Andrew cross 
is occultly connected therewith ". The divine name, the first in the series 
corresponding with Aleph, is AeH6IeH or Ahih^ when vowelless, and this 
is a Sanskrit root. 

Aahla (Eg,). One of the divisions of the Kemeter or infernal regions, 
or Amenti ; the word means the " Field of Peace ". 

Aanroo (Eg.), The second division of Amenti. The celestial field 
of Aanroo is encircled by an iron wall. The field is covered with 
wheat, and the ** Defunct" are represented gleaning it, for the 
** Master of Eternity " ; some stalks being three, others five, and the 
highest seven cubits high. Those who reached the last two numbers 
entered the state of bliss (which is called in Theosophy Devachan) ; the 
disembodied spirits whose harvest was but three cubits high went 
into lower regions (Kdmaloka), Wheat was with the Egyptians the symbol 
of the Law of Retribution or Karma, The cubits had reference to the 
seven, five and three human ** principles 

JLaron (Heb.), The elder brother of Moses and the /irst Initiate of the 



2 THEOSnPIIICAL 

Hebrew Lawgiver. Tlie name means the Illuminated, or the EiiUghicned. 
Aaron thus heads the line, or Hierarchy, of the initiated Nahim, or 
Seers. 

Ab (Heb.). The eleventh month of the Hebrew civil year; the fifth 
of the sacred year beginning in July. [w. w. w.] 

Abaddon (Heb.J, An angel of Hell, corresponding to the Greek 
A poll yon. 

Abatur (Gtu). In the Nazarene system the "Ancient of Dajs", 
AiUiquiis Allns, the Father of the Demiurgiis of the Universe, is called 
the Tkifd Lift or " Abatur". He corresponds to the Third " Logos" in 
the Secret Docirint. (See Codex Nazaraiis.) 

Abba Amona (Heb.). Lit., "Father-Mother"; the occult names of 
the two higher Sephiroth, Cbokmah and Binah, of the upper triad, the 
npex of which is Sephira or Kether. From this triad issues the lower 
septenary of the Sepliirothal Tree. 

AbhfijnBi (Sk.J. A mystic name of the " four orders of l>eings " which 
are, t'lods, Demons, Pitris and Men. Orientalists somehow connect the 
name with "waters", but esoteric philosophy connects its symbolism 
with ^'if'rijrt — the ethereal "waters of space", since it is on the bosom 
and on the seven planes of "space" that the " four orders of (lower) 
beings" and the three higher Orders of Spiritual Beings are born. (See 
Secret Doctrine I. p. 438, and " AnibhAmsi ".) 

Abh&avaras (Sk.), The Devas or " Gods" of Ltgkt and Sound, the 
highest of the upper three celestial regions (planes) of the second Dhyana 
(q.v.) A class of gods sixty-four in number, representing a certain cycle 
and an occult number. 

Abh&va (Sk.). Negation, or non-being of individual objects; the 
noumenal substance, or abstract objectivity. 

Abhaya (Sk.J. "Fearlessness" — ason of Dharma; and also a religious 
life of duty. As an adjective, " Fearless," Abhaya is an epithet given to 
every Buddha, 

Abhayajirif'5ft._J. Lit., " Mount Fearless" in Ceylon. It has an ancient 
Vihara or Monastery in which the weU-known Chinese traveller Fa-hien 
found 5,000 Buddhist priests and ascetics in the year 400 of our era. and 
a School called Abhayagiri Vasuiah, "School of the Secret Forest", 
This philosophical school was regarded as heretical, as the ascetics 
studied the doctrines of both the " greater " and the " smaller " vehicles — 
or the Mahdyana and the Hhiaydna systems and Triyana or the three 
successive degrees of Yoga ; just as a certain Brotherhood does now 
beyond the Himalayas. This proves that the " disciples of Katyayana " 
were and are as iinsectariaii as their humble admirers the Theosophists 



GLOSSARY 



are now. (See " Sthdvirah " School.) This was the most mystical of all 
the schools, and renowned for the number of Arhats it produced. The 
Brotherhood of Ahhayagiri called themselves the disciples of KILtylLyana, 
the favourite Chela of Gautama, the Buddha. Tradition says that owing 
to bigoted intolerance and persecution, they left Ceylon and passed 
beyond the Himalayas, where they have remained ever since. 

Abhidharma (Sk,), The metaphysical (third) part of Tripitakay a very 
philosophical Buddhist work by Katyayana. 

Abh]Jn& (Sk,), Six phenomenal (or " supernatural ") gifts which 
Sakyamuni Buddha acquired in the night on which he reached Buddha- 
ship. This is the " fourth " degree of Dhyana (the seventh in esoteric 
teachings) which has to be attained by every true Arhat. In China, 
the initiated Buddhist ascetics reckon six such powers, but in Ceylon 
they reckon only five. The first Abhijha is Divyachakchus, the instan- 
taneous view of anything one wills to see ; the second, is Divyasrotra^ the 
power of comprehending any sound whatever, etc., etc. 

Abhim§Jlim (Sk,), The name of Agni (fire) the " eldest son of Brahma", 
in other words, the first element or Force produced in the universe at 
its evolution (the fire of creative desire). By his wife Swaha, Abhiminim 
had three sons (the fires) Pavaka, Pavamana and Suchi, and tl ese had 
" forty-five sons, who, with the origmal son of Brahm4 and his three 
descendants, constitute the forty -nitu /ires' ' of Occultism. 

Abhimanyu (Sk,), A son of Arjuna. He killed Lakshmana, in the 
great battle of the Mahabharata on its second day, but was himself 
killed on the thirteenth. 

Abhiitarajasas (Sk,). A class of gods or Devas, during the period of 
the fifth Manvantara. 

Abib (Heh,), The first Jewish sacred month, begins in March ; is 
also called Nisan, 

Abie^nus Mons (Lat,), A mystic name, from whence as from a 
certain mountain, Rosicrucian documents are often found to be issued — 
** Monte Abiegno ". There is a connection with Mount Meru, and other 
sacred hills, [w.w.w.] 

Ab-i-hayat (Pers,), Water of immortality. Supposed to give eternal 
youth and sempiternal life to him who drinks of it. 

Abiri (Gr,), See Kabiri, also written Kabeiri, the Mighty Ones, 
celestials, sons of Zedec the just one, a group of deities worshipped in 
Phcenicia : they seem to be identical with the Titans, Corybantes, Curetes, 
Telchines and Dii Magni of Virgil, [w. w. w.] 

AblanathanalbafG/t.J. A term similar to** Abracadabra". Itissaidby 
C. W. King to have meant '* thou art a father to us ' ; it reads the same 



4 THEOSOPHICAL 

from either end and was used as a charm in Egypt. (See " Abracadabra ".) 
Abracadabra (Gn,), This symboHc word first occurs in a medical 
treatise in verse by Samonicus, who flourished in the reign of the 
Emperor Septimus Severus. Godfrey Higgins says it is from Ahra or 
Abar ** God ", in Celtic, tivhX cad "holy"; it was used as a charm, and 
engraved on Kameas as an amulet, [w.w.w.] 

Godfrey Higgins was nearly right, as the word ** Abracadabra" is a later 
corruption of the sacred Gnostic term " Abrasax ", the latter itself being a 
still earlier corruption of a sacred and ancient Coptic or Egyptian word : 
a magic formula which meant in its symbolism " Hurt me not ", and 
addressed the deity in its hieroglyphics as ** Father ". It was generally 
attached to an amulet or charm and worn as a Tat (g^v,), on the breast 
under the garments. 

Abraxas or Abrasax (Gn,), Mystic words which have been traced as 
far back as Basilides, the Pythagorean, of Alexandria, a.d. 90. He 
uses Abraxas as a title for Divinity, the supreme of Seven, and as 
having 365 virtues. In Greek numeration, a, i, J. 2, r. 100, a, i, 
X. 60, a, I, s. 200 = 365, days of the year, solar year, a cycle of divine 
action. C. W. King, author of The Gfwstics, considers the word 
similar to the Hebrew ShcmhampJiorasch, a holy word, the extended name 
of God. An Abraxas Gem usually shows a man's body with the head 
of a cock, one arm with a shield, the other with a whip. [w. w. w.] 

Abraxas is the counterpart of the Hindu Abhiminim (q^v,) and 
Brahm^ combined. It is these compound and mystic qualities which 
caused Oliver, the great Masonic authority, to connect the name of 
Abraxas with that of Abraham. This was unwarrantable ; the virtues 
and attributes of Abraxas, which are 365 in number, ought to have shown 
him that the deity was connected with the Sun and solar division of the 
year — nay, that Abraxas is the antitype, and the Sun, the type. 

Absoluteness. When predicated of the Universal Principle, it 
denotes an abstract noun, which is more correct and logical than to 
apply the adjective ** absolute " to that which has neither attributes nor 
limitations, nor can it have any. 

Ab-Soo (Chald.J. The mystic name for Space, meaning the dwelling 
otAb the ** Father ", or the Head of the source of the Waters of Know- 
ledge. The lore of the latter is concealed in the invisible space or 
^&sic regions. 

Aoaoia (Gr,). Innocence ; and also a plant used in Freemasonry as 
a symbol of initiation, immortaHty, and purity ; the tree furnished the 
sacred Shittim wood of the Hebrews, [w. w. w.] 

Aohamdth (Gn.), The name of the second, the inferior Sophia. 



GLOSSARY S 

Esoterically and with the Gnostics, the elder Sophia was the Holy 
Spirit (female Holy Ghost) or the Sakti of the Unknown, and the Divine 
Spirit ; while Sophia Achamdth is but the personification of the female 
aspect of the creative male Force in nature ; also the Astral Light. 

Achar (Heb.J. The Gods over whom (according to the Jews) Jehovah 
is the God. 

Ach&ra (Sk.). Personal and social (religious) obligations. 

Ach&rya (Sk.), Spiritual teacher, Guru ; as Sankar-rtcAarja, lit.y a 
** teacher of ethics '*. A name generally given to Initiates, etc., and 
meaning ** Master ". 

Aohath (Heh.), The one^ the first, feminine ; achad being masculine. 
A Talmudic word applied to Jehovah. It is worthy of note that the 
Sanskrit term ak means one, ekata being ** unity ", Brahma being called 
dky or cka^ the one, the first, whence the Hebrew word and application. 

Acher (Heh,). The Talmudic name of the Apostle Paul. The 
Talmud narrates the story of the four Tanatm, who entered the Garden of 
Delighty i.e,, came to be initiated ; Ben Asai, who looked and lost his 
sight ; Ben Zoma, who looked and lost his reason ; Acher, who made 
depredations in the garden and failed ; and Rabbi Akiba, who alone 
succeeded. The Kabalists say that Acher is Paul. 

Acheron (Gr,), One of the rivers of Hades in Greek mythology. 
Aohit (Sk.). Absolute «(?;«-intelligence ; as Chit is — in contrast — 
absolute intelligence. 

Aohyuta (Sk.), That which is not subject to change or fall ; the oppo- 
site to Chyuta, " fallen ". A title of Vishnu. 

Acosmism (Gr.). The prccreative period, when there was no 
Kosmos but Chaos alone. 

Ad (Assyr.). Ad, "the Father". In Aramean ad means one, and 
ad-ad " the only one ". 

Adah (Assyr.). Borrowed by the Hebrews for the name of their 
Adah, father of Jubal, etc. But Adah meaning the first, the one, is 
universal property. There arc reasons to think that Ak-ad^ means the 
Jirst-born or Son of Ad. Adon was the first ** Lord " of Syria. (See 
Isis Unv. II., pp. 452, 453.) 

Adam (Heh.). In the Kahalah Adam is the "only-begotten", and 
means also ** red earth ". (See ** Adam-Adami " in the Sec. Doct. II., p. 
452.) It is almost identical with Athamas or Thomas^ and is rendered into 
Greek by Didumos, the ** twin " — Adam, ** the first ", in chap, i of Genesis^ 
being shown, ** male-female." 

Adam Kadmon (Heb). Archetypal Man; Humanity. The 



6 TMEOSOPHlCAL 

" Heavenly Man " not fallen into sin ; Kabalists refer it to the Ten 
Sephiroth on the plane of human perception, [w. w. w.] 

In the Kahalah Adam Kadmon is the manifested Logos corresponding 
to our TAi)'ii Logos ; the Unnianifesled being the first paradiginic ideal 
Man, and synibohzing tlie Universe in abscondUo, or in its " privation " in 
the Aristotelean sense. The First Logos is tiie " Light of the World", 
the Second and the Third — its gradually deepening shadows. 

Adamio Earth (Alck.J. Called the " true oil of gold " or the " primal 
element " in .Mchemy. It is but one remove from the pure homogeneous 
element. 

Adbhuta Brahmana f'S^-J. The Brfkhmana of miracles; treats of 

Adbhuta DhaPma (Sk.J. The "law " of things never heard before. 
A class of Buddhist works on miraculous or phenomenal events. 

Adept I Lat.J. Adtplus, "He who has obtained." In Occultism one 
who has reached the stage of Initiation, and become a Master in the 
science of Esoteric philosophy. 

AdhaFina (Sk.). Unrighteousness, vice, the opposite of Dharma. 

Adhi (Sk.J. Supreme, paramount. 

Adhi-bhautika duhkhaf^^.j. The second of the three kinds of pain; 
lil., "Evil proceedmg from external things or beings". 

Adhi-daiyika duhkha f.b~^.^. The third of the three kinds of pain. 
" Evil proceeding from divine causes, or a just Karmic punishment ". 

Adhisht4nam (Sk.J. Basis ; a principle in which some other principle 
inheres. 

Adhyatmika duhkha r5^.;. The first of the three kinds of pain; Hi., 
" Evil proceeding from Self", an induced or a generated evil by Self, or 
man hmiself. 

Adhyatma Vidy& (Sh.j. L//.. "the esoteric luminary". One of the 
Pancka Vidyu S'iilras,QV the Scriptures of the Five Sciences. 

idi (Sk.J. The First, the primeval. 

Adi (the Sons of). In Esoteric philosophy the "Sons of .\di" are 
called the " Sons of the Fire-mist ". A term used of certain adepts. 

Adi-bhutafSi,_J. The first Being; also primordial element. Adbhuta 
is a title of Vishnu, the "first Fllement " containing all elements, " the 
unfathomable deity". 

Adi-Buddha (Sk.J. The First and Supreme Buddha — not recognised 
in the Southern Church. The Eternal Light. 

Xdl-budhi (Sk.J. Primeval Intelhgence or Wisdom; the eternal 
Budhi or Universal Mind, Used of Dtvme Ideation, " MahSbuddhi " being 
synonymous with Makat. 



GLOSSARY 7 

Adikrit (Sk,). Lit., the ** first produced" or made. The creative Force 
eternal and uncreate, but manifesting periodically. Applied to Vishnu 
slumbering on the " waters of space " during " pralaya '* (q-v.), 

idi-n&tha (Sk.). The ** first " Lord "—Adi " first " (masc), ndtha 
" Lord ". 

Adi-nld&na (Sh.). First and Supreme Causality, from Adi, the first, 
and Niddna the principal cause (or the concatenation of cause and 
effect). 

Adi-Sakti (Sk.). Primeval, divine Force ; the female creative power, 
and as|>ect in and of every male god. The Sakti in the Hindu Pantheon 
is always the spouse of some god. 

Adi-Sanat (Sk.). Lit., ** First Ancient ". The term corresponds to the 
Kabalistic " ancient of days '*, since it is a title of Brahmll — called in the 
Zohar the Attcekah d'Atteekeen^ or "the Ancient of the Ancients'*, etc. 

Aditi (Sk.). The Vedic name for the MUlaprakriti of the Vedintists ; 
the abstract aspect of Parabrahman, though both unmanifested and 
unknowable. In the Vedas Aditi is the " Mother-Goddess", her terrestrial 
symbol being infinite and shoreless space. 

Aditi-GsBa. A compound term, Sanskrit and Latin, meaning dual, 
nature in theosophical writings — spiritual and physical, as Gaea is the 
goddess of the earth and of objective nature. 

Aditya (Sk.). A name of the Sun ; as MILrttlinda, he is the Son of 
Aditi. 

Adityas (Sk.). The seven sons of Aditi ; the seven planetary gods. 
Adi Yarsha (Sk.). The first land ; the primordial country in which 
dwelt the first races. 

Adonai (Heb.). The same as Adonis. Commonly translated ** Lord ". 
Astronomically — the Sun. When a Hebrew in reading came to the name 
IHVH, which is called Jehovah, he paused and substituted the word 
** Adonai ", (Adni) ; but when written with the points of Alhim, he 
called it " Elohim ". [w. w. w.] 

Adonim- Adonai, Aden. The ancient Chaldeo- Hebrew names for the 
Elohim or creative terrestrial forces, synthesized by Jehovah. 

Adwaita (Sk.). A Vedinta sect. The non-dualistic (A-dwaita) school 
of Vedlintic philosophy founded by Sankarich^rya, the greatest of the 
historical Brahmin sages. The two other schools are the Dwaita 
(dualistic) and the Visishtadwaita ; all the three call themselves Vedantic. 

Adwaitin (Sk.). A follower of the said school. 

Adytum (Gr.). The Holy of Holies in the pagan temples. A name 
for the secret and sacred precincts or the inner chamber, into which no 



8 THEOSOPHICAL 

profane could enter; it corresponds to the sanctuary of the altars of 
Christian Churches. 

JEbel-ZiYO (Gn,), The Metatron or anointed spirit with the Nazarene 
Gnostics ; the same as the angel Gabriel. 

iEolus (Gr.J, The god who, according to Hesiod, binds and looses the 
winds ; the king of storms and winds. A king of ^Eolia, the inventor of 
sails and a great astronomer, and therefore deified by posterity. 

iEon or JEons ( Or.). Periods of time ; emanations proceeding from the 
divine essence, and celestial beings ; genii and angels with the Gnostics. 

iEsir (Scand.), The same as Ases^ the creative Forces personified. 
The gods who created the black dwarfs or the Elves of Darkness in Asgard. 
The divine iEsir, the Ases are the Elves of Light. An allegory bringing 
together darkness which comes from light, and matter born of spirit. 

iEther (Gr.J. With the ancients the divine luminiferous substance 
which pervades the whole universe, the " garment " of the Supreme 
Deity, Zeus, or Jupiter. With the moderns, Ether, for the meaning of 
which in physics and chemistry see Webster *s Dictionary or any other. 
In esotericism iEther is the third principle of the Kosmic Septenary ; 
the Earth being the lowest, then the Astral light. Ether and Akdsa 
(phonetically A kasha) the highest. 

iEthrobaoy (Gr.J, Lit., walking on, or being lifted into the air with no 
visible agent at work ; ** levitation *'. 

It may be conscious or unconscious ; in the one case it is magic, in 
the other either disease or a power which requires a few words of eluci- 
dation. We know that the earth is a magnetic body ; in fact, as some 
scientists have found, and as Paracelsus affirmed some 300 years ago, it is 
one vast magnet. It is charged with one form of electricity — let us call 
it positive — which it evolves continuously by spontaneous action, in its 
interior or centre of motion. Human bodies, in common with all other 
forms of matter, are charged with the opposite form of electricity, the 
negative. That is to say, organic or inorganic bodies, if left to themselves 
will constantly and involuntarily charge themselves with and evolve the 
form of electricity opposite to that of the earth itself. Now, what is 
weight ? Simply the attraction of the earth. ** Without the attraction 
of the earth you would have no weight ", says Professor Stewart ; " and 
if you had an earth twice as heavy as this, you would have double the 
attraction ". How then, can we get rid of this attraction ? According 
to the electrical law above stated, there is an attraction between our 
planet and the organisms upon it, which keeps them upon the surface 
of the globe. But the law of gravitation has been counteracted in 
many instances, by levitation of persons and inanimate objects. How 



GLOSSARY 9 

account for this ? The condition of our physical systems, say theurgic 
philosophers, is largely dependent upon the action of our will. If well- 
regulated, it can produce ** miracles " ; among others a change of this 
electrical polarity from negative to positive ; the man's relations with 
the earth-magnet would then become repellent, and " gravity " for him 
would have ceased to exist. It would then be as natural for him to 
rush into the air until the repellent force had exhausted itself, as, before, 
it had been for him to remain upon the ground. The altitude of his 
levitation would be measured by his ability, greater or less, to charge 
his body with positive electricity. This control over the physical forces 
once obtained, alteration of his levity or gravity would be as easy as 
breathing. (See Isis Unveiled, Vol. I., page xxiii.) 

Afinits (Arab.). A name for native spirits regarded as devils by 
Mussulmen. Elementals much dreaded in Egypt. 

Agap® (Or.). Love Feasts ; the early Christians kept such festivals 
in token of sympathy, love and mutual benevolence. It became necessary 
to abolish them as an institution, because of great abuse ; Paul in his 
First Epistle to the Corinthians complains of misconduct at the feasts 
of the Christians, [w. w. w.] . 

Agastya (Sk,). The name of a great Rishi, much revered in Southern 
India ; the reputed author of hymns in the Rig Veda, and a great hero in 
the Rdmdyana, In Tamil literature he is credited with having been the 
first instructor of the Dravidians in science, religion and philosophy. It 
is also the name of the star " Canopus ". 

Agathodeemon (Gr.), The beneficent, good Spirit as contrasted with 
the bad one, Kakodaimon. The ** Brazen Serpent " of the Bible is the 
former ; the flying serpents of fire are an aspect of Kakodaemon. The 
Ophites called Agathodaemon the Logos and Divine Wisdom, which in 
the Bacchanalian Mysteries was represented by a serpent erect on a pole. 

Agathon (Gr.). Plato's Supreme Deity. Lit., " The Good ", our 
ALAYA, or *' Universal Soul". 

Aged (Kab.). One of the Kabbalistic names for Sephira, called also 
the Crown, or Kether, 

Agla (Heh.). This Kabbalistic word is a talisman composed of the 
initals of the four words *' Ateh Gibor Leolam Adonai ", meaning " Thou 
art mighty for ever O Lord ". MacGregor Mathers explains it thus : 
** A, the first ; A, the last ; G, the trinity in unity ; L, the completion of 
the great work ". [w. w. w.] 

Agneyastra (Sh.). The fiery missiles or weapons used by the Gods 
in the exoteric Purdnas and the Mahdbhdrata ; the magic weapons said to 
have been wielded by the adept-race (the fourth), the Atlanteans. This 



/ 
/ 



/ 



lo theosophical 

"weapon of fire" was given by Bharadwija to Agnivesa, the son of 
Agni, and by him to Drona, though the Vishnu Purdna contradicts 
this, saying that it was given by the sage Aurva to King Sagara, 
his chela. They are frequently mentioned in the Mahdhhdrata and the 
Rdmdyana, 

KpA (Sk.J. The God of Fire in the Veda ; the oldest and the most 
revered of Gods in India. He is one of the three great deities : Agni, 
V&yu and Surya, and also all the three, as he is the triple aspect of fire ; 
in heaven as the Sun ; in the atmosphere or air (V&yu), as Lightning ; on 
earth, as ordinary Fire. Agni belonged to the earlier Vedic TrimHrti before 
Vishnu was given a place of honour and before Brahm4 and Siva were 
invented. 

A^i B&hu (Sk,), An ascetic son of Manu Sw^yambhuva, the 
" Self-born ". 

Agni BhuYoh (Sk.). Lit., "born of fire", the term is applied to the 
four races of Kshairiyas (the second or warrior caste) whose ancestors are 
said to have sprung from fire. Agni Bhuvah is the son of Agni, the God 
of Fire ; Agni Bhuvah being the same as Kartti-keya, the God of War. 
(See Sec. Doct., Vol. II., p. 550.) 

Agni Dh&tu Sam&dhi (Sk.). A kind of contemplation in Yoga prac- 
tice, when Kundalini is raised to the extreme and the infinitude appears 
as one sheet of fire. An ecstatic condition. 

Agni Hotri (Sk.). The priests who served the Fire-God in Aryan 
antiquity. The term Agni Hotri is one that denotes oblation. 

Agni-ratha (Sk.). A " Fiery Vehicle *' Hterally. A kind of flying 
machine. Spoken of in ancient works of magic in India and in the epic 
poems. 

Agnishw&ttas (Sk.). A class of Pitris, the creators of the first 
ethereal race of men. Our solar ancestors as contrasted with the 
Barhishads, the ** lunar " Pitris or ancestors, though otherwise explained 
in the Purdnas, 

Agnoia (Gr.). ** Divested of reason ", lit., ** irrationality ", when 
speaking of the animal Soul. According to Plutarch, Pythagoras and 
Plato divided the human soul into two parts (the higher and lower 
manas) — the rational or fwetic and the irrational, or agnoia, sometimes 
written " annoia ". 

Agnostio (Gr.). A word claimed by Mr. Huxley to have been coined 
by him to indicate one who believes nothing which cannot be demon- 
strated by the senses. The later schools of Agnosticism give more 
philosophical definitions of the term. 

Agra-Bandh&ni (Sk.). The " Assessors " or Recorders who read at the 



GLOSSARY tt 

judgment of a disembodied Soul the record of its life in the heart of that 
" Soul ". The same almost as the Lipikas of the Secret Doctrine, 
(See Sec. Doct., Vol. I., p. 105.) 

AgPueFUS A very ancient Phoenician god. The same as Saturn. 

Aham (Sk.). ** I " — the basis of Ahankdra, Self-hood. 

Ahan (Sk.). ** Day ", the Body of Brahmli, in the Purdnas, 

Ahankara (Sk.). The conception of ** I '*, Self-consciousness or Self- 
identity ; the ** I ", the egotistical and mdydvic principle in man, due to 
our ignorance which separates our ** I " from the Universal One-Self 
Personality, Egoism. 

Aheie (Heh.). Existence. He who exists; corresponds to Kether 
and Macroprosopus. 

Ah-hj (Sensar)y Ahi (Sk.), or Serpents. Dhy&n Chohans. " Wise 
Serpents " or Dragons of Wisdom. 

Ahi (Sk.). A serpent. A name of Vritra, the Vedic demon of drought. 

Ahti (Scand.). The ** Dragon " in the Eddas, 

Ahu (Scand.). ** One " and the First. 

Ahum (Zend). The first three principles of septenary man in the 
A vesta ; the gross living man and his vital and astral principles. 

Ahara (Zend.). The same as Asura, the holy, the Breath-like. 
Ahura Mazda, the Ormuzd of the Zoroastrians or Parsis, is the Lord 
who bestows light and intelligence, whose symbol is the Sun (See *' Ahura 
Mazda"), and of whom Ahriman, a European form of " Angra Mainyu" 
(q»v.)t is the dark aspect. 

Ahura Mazda (Zend). The personified deity, the Principle of 
Universal Divine Light of the Parsis. From Ahura or Asnra^ breath, 
'* spiritual, divine " in the oldest Rig Veda, degraded by the orthodox 
Brahmans into A -sura, ** no gods ", just as the Mazdeans have degraded 
the Hindu Devas (Gods) into Daeva (Devils). 

Aidoneus (Gr.). The God and King of the Nether World ; Pluto or 
Dionysos Chthonios (subterranean). 

Aij Taion. The supreme deity of the Yakoot^ a tribe in Northern 
Siberia. 

Ain-AioF (Chald.). The only ** Self-existent ", a mystic name for 
divine substance, [w. w. w.] 

Aln (Heb.). The negatively existent ; deity in repose, and absolutely 
passive, [w. w. w.] 

Aindri (Sk.). Wife of Indra. 

Aindriya (Sk.). Or Indrdni, Indriya ; Sakti. The female aspect or 
** wife '* of Indra. 



\ 



12 THEOSOPHICAL 

Ain Gk>ph (Heb.). The ** Boundless " or Limitless ; Deity emanating 
and extending, [w. w. w.] 

Ain Soph is also written En Soph and Ain Suphy no one, not even 
Rabbis, being sure of their vowels. In the religious metaphysics of the 
old Hebrew philosophers, the One Principle was an abstraction, like 
Parabrahmam, though modern Kabbalists have succeeded now, by dint of 
mere sophistry and paradoxes, in making a ** Supreme God " of it and 
nothing higher. But with the early Chaldean Kabbalists Ain Soph is 
** without form or being", having "no likeness with anything else" 
(Franck, Die Kabhala^ p. 126). That Ain Soph has never been considered 
as the ** Creator " is proved by even such an orthodox Jew as Philo 
calling the " Creator '* the Logos, who stands next the ** Limitless One ", 
and the " Second God ". *' The Second God is its (Ain Soph's) wisdom ", 
says Philo (Quaest, et Solut.), Deity is No-thing ; it is nameless, and 
therefore called Ain Soph ; the word Ain meaning nothing. (See 
Franck's Kabhala, p. 153 if.) 

Ain Soph Aur (Heb,), The Boundless Light which concentrates 
into the First and highest Sephira or Kether, the Crown, [w. w. w.] 

Airyamen Yadgo (Zend), Or Airy ana Vaego; the primeval land of 
bliss referred to in the Vendtddd, where Ahura Mazda delivered his laws 
to Zoroaster (Spitama Zarathustra). 

Airyana-ishejd (Zend), The name of a prayer to the '*holy 
Airyamen", the divine aspect of Ahriman before the latter became a 
dark opposing power, a Satan. For Ahriman is of the same essence 
with Ahura Mazda, just as Typhon-Seth is of the same essence with 
Osiris {q.v,). 

Ai8h (Heb.). The word for " Man ". 

Aisvarikas (Sk,), A theistic school of Nepaul, which sets up Adi 
Buddha as a supreme god (Isvara), instead of seeing in the name that 
of a principle, an abstract philosophical symbol. 

Aitareya (Sk,). The name of an Aranyaka (Br^hmana) and a 
Upanishad of the Rig Veda, Some of its portions are purely Ved^tic, 

Aith-ur (Chald.). Solar fire, divine iEther. 

Aja (Sk,), ** Unborn ", uncreated ; an epithet belonging to many of 
the primordial gods, but especially to the first Logos — a radiation of the 
Absolute on the plane of illusion. 

Ajitas (Sk.). One of the Occult names of the twelve great gods in- 
carnating in each Manvantara. The Occultists identify them with the 
Kumiras. They are called Jn&na (or GnlLna) Devas. Also, a form of 
Vishnu in the second Manvantara. Called also Jayas, 

Ajn&na (Sk.) or Ajjyana (Bengali), Non-knowledge ; absence of 



GLOSSARY 13 

knowledge rather than " ignorance " as generally translated. An Ajnani, 
means a " profane '*. 

Akar (Eg.), The proper name of that division of the Kcr-neter 
infernal regions, which may be called Hell. [w. w. w.] . 

Ak&sa (Sk.), The subtle, supersensuous spiritual essence which 
pervades all space ; the primordial substance erroneously identified with 
Ether. But it is to Ether what Spirit is to Matter, or Atmd to Kiuna-riipa, 
It is, in fact, the Universal Space in which lies inherent the eternal Ideation 
of the Universe in its ever-changing aspects on the planes of matter and 
objectivity, and from which radiates the First Logos , or expressed thought. 
This is why it is stated in the Purdnas that Ak^sa has but one attribute, 
namely sound, for sound is but the translated symbol of Logos — ** Speech '* 
in its mystic sense. In the same sacrifice (the Jyotishtoma Agnishtoma) it 
is called the *' God Ak^sa *'. In these sacrificial mysteries Akasa is the 
all-directing and omnipotent Deva who plays the part of Sadasya, the 
superintendent over the magical effects of the religious performance, and 
it had its own appointed Hotri (priest) in days of old, who took its name. 
The Akasa is the indispensable agent of every Krityd (magical perform- 
ance) religious or profane. The expression ** to stir up the Brahm^ ", means 
to stir up the power which lies latent at the bottom of every magical 
operation, Vedic sacrifices being in fact nothing if not ceremonial magic. - ' 

This power is the Akasa — in another aspect, Kuttddini — occult electricity, 
the alkahest of the alchemists in one sense, or the universal solvent, the 
same anima mundi on the higher plane as the astral light is on the lower, 
** At the moment of the sacrifice the priest becomes imbued with the 
spirit of Brahmi, is, for the time being, Brahma himself". (Isis Unveiled), 

Akbar. The great Mogul Emperor of India, the famous patron of 
religions, arts, and sciences, the most liberal of all the Mussulman 
sovereigns. There has never been a more tolerant or enlightened ruler 
than the Emperor Akbar, either in India or in any other Mahometan 
country. 

Akiba (Heb,), The only one of the four Tanaini (initiated prophets) who 
entering the Garden of Delight (of the occult sciences) succeeded in getting 
himself initiated while all the others failed. (See the Kabbalistic 
Rabbis). 

Akshara (Sk,), Supreme Deity ;/fV., " indestructible", ever perfect. 

Akta (Sk.), Anointed : a title of Twashtri or Visvakarman, the highest 
"Creator" and Logos in the Rig-Veda, He is called the ** Father of 
the Gods" and ** Father of the sacred Fire" (See note page loi, Vol, 
II., Sec. Dod,). 

Akftp&ra (Sk.). The Tortoise, the symbolical turtle on which the 
ea rth is said to rest* 



14 THEOSOPHICAL 

Al or El (Heb.), This deity-name is commonly translated ** God ' , 
meaning mighty, supreme. The plural is Elohim, also translated in the 
Bible by the word God, in the singular, [w. w. w.] 

Al-ait (Phctn,), The God of Fire, an ancient and very mystic name 
in Koptic Occultism. 

Alaparus (Chald,), The second divine king of Babylonia who reigned 
** three Sari ". The first king of the divine Dynasty was Alorus ac- 
cording to Berosus. He was ** the appointed Shepherd of the people " 
and reigned ten Sari (or 36,000 years, a Sams being 3,600 years). 

Alaya (Sk,), The Universal Soul (See Secret Doctrine Vol. I. pp. 47 
et seq.). The name belongs to the Tibetan system of the contemplative 
Mahayana School. Identical with Akasa in its mystic sense, and with 
MMaprakriti, in its essence, as it is the basis or root of all things. 

Alba Petra (Lat,), The white stone of Initiation. The ** white 
cornelian " mentioned in St. John's Revelation. 

Al-Chazari (Arab,), A Prince-Philosopher and Occultist. (See 
Book Al-Chazari,) 

Alohemists. From ^/ and Chemi, fire, or the god and patriarch, Kham, 
also, the name of Egypt. The Rosicrucians of the middle ages, such as 
Robertus de Fluctibus (Robert Fludd), Paracelsus, Thomas Vaughan 
(Eugenius Philalethes), Van Hehnont, and others, were all alchemists, 
who sought for the hidden spirit in every inorganic matter. Some people — 
nay, the great majority — have accused alchemists of charlatanry and 
false pretending. Surely such men as Roger Bacon, Agrippa, Henry 
Khunrath, and the Arabian Geber (the first to introduce into Europe 
some of the secrets of chemistry), can hardly be treated as impostors — 
least of all as fools. Scientists who are reforming the science of physics 
upon the basis of the atomic theory of Democritus, as restated by John 
Dalton, conveniently forget that Democritus, of Abdera, was an al- 
chemist, and that the mind that was capable of penetrating so far into 
the secret operations of nature in one direction must have had good 
reasons to study and become a Hermetic philosopher. Olaus Borrichius 
says that the cradle of alchemy is to be sought in the most distant times. 
(I sis Unveiled), 

Alohemy, in Arabic Ul-Khemi, is, as the name suggests, the chemistry 
of nature. Ul-Khemi or Al-Klmidy however, is only an Arabianized 

word, taken from the Greek xw^^^ i^^^"^^^^) froi^ x^H-^^ — ** juice", sap 
extracted from a plant. Says Dr. Wynn Westcott : ** The earliest use 
of the actual term * alchemy 'is found in the works of Julius Firmicus 
Maternus, who lived in the days of Constantine the Great. The 
Imperial Library in Paris contains the oldest extant alchemic treatise 
known in Europe; it was written by Zosimus the Panopolite about 400 a.d. 



GLOSSARY 15 

in the Greek language, the next oldest is by ^Eneas Gazeiis, 480 a.d.** 
It deals with the finer forces of nature and the various conditions in 
which they are found to operate. Seeking under the veil of language, 
more or less artificial, to convey to the uninitiated so much of the 
mysterium magnum as is safe in the hands of a selfish world, the alchemist 
postulates as his first principle the existence of a certain Universal 
Solvent by which all composite bodies are resolved into the homogeneous 
substance firom which they are evolved, which substance he calls pure 
gold, or summa materia. This solvent, also called menstruum universale^ 
possesses the power of removing all the seeds of disease from the 
human body, of renewing youth and prolonging life. Such is the lapis 
philosophorum (philosopher's stone). Alchemy first penetrated into 
Europe through Geber, the great Arabian sage and philosopher, in the 
eighth century of our era ; but it was known and practised long ages 
ago in China and in Egypt, numerous papyri on alchemy and other 
proofs of its being the favourite study of kings and priests having been 
exhumed and preserved under the generic name of Hermetic treatises. 
(See " Tabula Smaragdina "). Alchemy is studied under three distinct 
aspects, which admit of many different interpretations, viz, : the Cosmic, 
Human, and Terrestrial. These three methods were typified under the 
three alchemical properties — sulphur, mercury, and salt. Different writers 
have stated that there are three, seven, ten, and twelve processes 
respectively ; but they are all agreed that there is but one object in 
alchemy, which is to transmute gross metals into pure gold. What that 
gold, however, really is, very few people understand correctly. No 
doubt that there is such a thing in nature as transmutation of the baser 
metals into the nobler, or gold. But this is only one aspect of alchemy, 
the terrestrial or purely material, for we sense logically the same process 
taking place in the bowels of the earth. Yet, besides and beyond this 
interpretation, there is in alchemy a symbolical meaning, purely psychic 
and spiritual. While the Kabbalist- Alchemist seeks for the realization of 
the former, the Occultist-Alchemist, spurning the gold of the mines, gives 
all his attention and directs his efforts only towards the transmutation of 
the hsiser quaternary into the divine upper trinity of man, which when finally 
blended are one. The spiritual, mental, psychic, and physical planes 
of human existence are in alchemy compared to the four elements, fire, 
air, water and earth, and are each capable of a^threefold constitution, i,e., 
fixed, mutable and volatile. Little or nothing is known by the word 
concerning the origin of this archaic branch of philosophy ; but it is 
certain that it antedates the construction of any known Zodiac, and, as 
dealing with the personified forces of nature, probably also any of 
the mythologies of the world ; nor is there any doubt that the 
true secret of transmutation (on the physical plane) was known in 



1 6 THEOSOPHICAL 

days of old, and lost before the dawn of the so-called historical period. 
Modern chemistry owes its best fundamental discoveries to alchemy, but 
regardless of the undeniable truism of the latter that there is but ofu element 
in the universe, chemistry has placed metals in the class of elements and is 
only now beginning to find out its gross mistake. Even some Encyclopae- 
dists are now forced to confess that if most of the accounts of transmu- 
tations are fraud or delusion, ** yet some of them are accompanied by 
testimony which renders them probable, . . By means of the galvanic battery 
even the alkalis have been discovered to have a metallic base. The possibi- 
lity of obtaining metal from other substances which contain the ingredients 
composing it, and of changing one metal into another . . . must therefore 
be left undecided. Nor are all alchemists to be considered impostors. 
Many have laboured under the conviction of obtaining their object, with 
indefatigable patience and purity of heart, which is earnestly recom- 
mended by sound alchemists as the principal requisite for the success of 
their labours." (Pop. Encyclop,) 

Aloyone (Gr.), or Halcyone, daughter of iEolus, and wife of Ceyx, 
who was drowned as he was journeying to consult the oracle, upon 
which she threw herself into the sea. Accordingly both were changed, 
through the mercy of the gods, into king-fishers. The female is said 
to lay her eggs on the sea and keep it calm during the seven days before and 
seven days after the winter solstice. It has a very occult significance 
in ornithomancy. 

Aleotromanoy (Gr,), Divination by means of a cock, or other bird ; 
a circle was drawn and divided into spaces, each one allotted to a letter ; 
corn was spread over these places and note was taken of the successive 
lettered divisions from which the bird took grains of corn, [w.w.w.] 

Alethffi (Phoen,), ** Fire worshippers " from Al-ait, the God of Fire. 
The same as the Kabiri or divine Titans. As the seven emanations of 
Agruerus (Saturn) they are connected with all the fire, solar and ** storm " 
gods (Maruts), 

Aletheia (Gr.), Truth ; also Alethia, one of Apollo's nurses. 

Alexadrian Sohool (of Philosophers). This famous school arose in 
Alexandria (Egypt) which was for several centuries the great seat of 
learning and philosophy. Famous for its library, which bears the name 
of " Alexandrian ", founded by Ptolemy Soter, who died in 283 b.c, at 
the very beginning of his reign ; that library which once boasted of 
700,000 rolls or volumes (Aulus Gellius) ; for its museum, the first real 
academy of sciences and arts ; for its world-famous scholars, such as 
Euclid (the father of scientific geometry), ApoUonius of Perga (the author 
of the still extant work on conic sections), Nicomachus (the arithmetician); 
astronomers, natural philosophers, anatomists such as Herophilus and 



more 



and maijT rihrs^-^. ^ 

of Gnashes b^i^ ~-^'-- 

lambliciius. F -r^.V^^ 

**™er, Hvpirii r-- 

second nia^i^ir^f^ - • / 
and helped r? — -*! 
of learain^ ir^ I C*^ j: 

MSkim 



*--"7- . 



but in niT'^cr.-^rr- 



(lead , ^ :i, i^^ - -\- -''^ 
and Its armr :zr*s ^ -^ 1- *" 



- _•_ 



volunaes of A'^ -i. < - 



-■^ ^c* 



T ^ 



temple ani r_- .- - 

Alpha 

years ar^:.. 



in the 

Actions len ^— j - - - 

unknown 






emended ir-= ---xz- . . . 
'^as copied ii. -^ v' T 

"dhine 

also 




dictionarv j 
classicai 5^-;:^ 

asters " " • 



Rishisof 






i6 



THEOSOPHICAL 



days of old. and lost before the dawn of the so-called historical period- 
Modern chemistry owes its best fundamental discoveries to alchemy, but 
regardless of the undeniable truism of the latter that there is but ohi; element 
in the universe, chemistry has placed metals in the class of elements and is 
only now beginning to find out its gross misiake. Even some Encyclopa:- ' 
dists are now forced to confess that if most of the accounts of transmu- 
tations are fraud or delusion, "yet some of them are accompanied by 
testimony which renders then! probable. . . By means of the galvanic battery 
even the alkalis have been discovered to have a metallic base. The possibi- 
lity of obtaining metal from other substances which contain the ingredients 
composing it, a.a<i of changing otu metal inlo another . . . must therefore 
be left undecided. Nor are all alchemists to be considered impostors. 
Many have laboured under the conviction of obtaining their object, with 
indefatigable patience and purity of heart, which is earnestly recom- 
mended by sound alchemists as the principal requisite for the success of 
thtir labours." (Pof. Encydop.) 

Alcyone (Gr.), or Halcyone, daughter of ^olus, and wife of Ceyx, 
who was drowned as he was journeying to consult the oracle, upon 
which she threw herself into the sea. Accordingly both were changed, 
through the mercy of the gods, into king-fishers. The female is said 
to lay her eggs on the sea and keefi it cairn during the seven days before and 
seven days after the winter solstice. It has a very occult significance 
in ornithomancy. 

Aleotromanoy (Gr.). Divination by means of a cock, or other bird ; 
a circle was drawn and divided into spaces, each one allotted to a letter ; 
corn was spread over these places and note was taken of the successive 
lettered divisions from which the bird took grains of corn, [w.w.w.] 

Alethee (Phaen.J. " Fire worshippers" from Al-ait, the God of Fire. 
The same as the Kabiri or divine Titans. As the seven emanations of 
Agruerus (Saturn) they are connected with all the fire, solar and " storm " 
gods (Maruts). 

Aletheia (Gr.). Truth ; also Alethia, one of Apollo's nurses. 

Alexadrian School (of Philosophers). This famous school arose in 
Alexandria (Egypt) which was for several centuries the great seat of 
learning and philosopliy. Famous for its library, which bears the name 
of " Alexandrian ", founded by Ptolemy Soter, who died in 283 B.C., at 
the very beginning of his reign ; that library which once boasted of 
700,000 rolls or volumes (Aulus Gellius); for its museum, the first real 
academy of sciences and arts ; for its world-famous scholars, such as 
Euclid (the father of scientific geometry), Apollonius of Perga (the author 
of the still extant work on conic sections), Nicomachus (the arithmetician); 
astronomers, natural philosophers, anatomists such as Herophilus and 



GLOSSARY 17 

Erasistratus, physicians, musicians, artists, etc., etc. ; it became still 
more famous for its Eclectic, or the Neiv Platonic school, founded in 
193 A.D., by Ammonius Saccas, whose disciples were Origen, Plotinus, 
and many others now famous in history. The most celebrated schools 
of Gnostics had their origin in Alexandria. Philo Judaeus, Josephus, 
lamblichus, Porphyry, Clement of Alexandria, Eratosthenes the astron- 
omer, Hypatia the virgin philosopher, and numberless other stars of 
second magnitude, all belonged at various times to these great schools, 
and helped to make Alexandria one of the most justly renowned seats 
of learning that the world has ever produced. 

Alhim (Heh.). See »' Elohim ". 

Alkahest (A rah. ). The universal solvent in Alchemy (see ** Alchemy ") ; 
but in mysticism, the Higher Self, the union with which makes of matter 
(lead), gold, and restores all compound things such as the human body 
and its attributes to their primaeval essence. 

Almadel, the Book. A treatise on Theurgia or White Magic by an 
unknown mediaeval European author ; it is not infrequently found in 
volumes of MSS. called Keys of Solomon, [w. w. w.] 

K\l[ie\i (Arab,), Dancing girls ; the same as the Indian fiaufches, th(^ 
temple and public dancers. 

Alpha Polaris yL^/.)* The same as Dhrnva, the pole-star of 31,105 
years ago. 

Alswider {Scand,), " All-swift", the namo of the horse of the moon, 
in the Eddas, 

Altruism fLa^J. From a/^^r= other. A quality opposed to egoism. 
Actions tending to do good to others, regardless of self. 

Alze, Liber, de Lapide Philosophico. An alchemic treatise by an 
unknown German author ; dated 1677. ^^ is to be found reprinted in the 
Hermetic Museum ; in it is the well known design of a man with legs 
extended and his body hidden by a seven pointed star. Eliphaz L6vi 
has copied it. [w. w. w.] 

Ama (Heh.). J Amia, (Chald.). Mother. A title of Sephira Binah, whose 
" divine name is Jehovah " and who is called " Supernal Mother '*. 

Am&nasa (Sk.j. The ** Mindless ", the early races of this planet ; 
also certain Hindu gods. 

Amara-Kosha (Sk.). The "immortal vocabulary". The oldest 
dictionary known in the world and the most perfect vocabulary of 
classical Sanskrit ; by Amara Sinha, a sage of the second century. 

Amba (Sk.). The name of the eldest of the seven Pleiades, the heavenly 
sisters married each to a Rishi belonging to the Saptariksha or the seven 
Rishis of the constellation known as the Great Bear. 

B 



1 8 THEOSOPHICAL 

Ambh&msi (Sk.), A name of the chief of the Kumaras, Sanat-Sujata, 
signifying the ** waters '*. This epithet will become more comprehensible 
when we remember that the later type of Sanat-Sujata was Michael, 
the Archangel, who is called in the Talmud ** the Prince of Waters ", and 
in the Roman Catholic Church is regarded as the patron of gulfs and 
promontories. Sanat-Sujata is the immaculate son of the immaculate 
mother (Amba or Aditi, chaos and space) or the ** waters " of limitless 
space. (See Secret Doctrine, Vol. I., p. 460.) 

Amdo (Tib.), A sacred locality, the birthplace of Tson-kha-pa, the 
great Tibetan reformer and the founder of the Gelukpa (yellow caps), 
who is regarded as an Avatar of Amita-buddha. 

Arndn, In Hebrew is formed of the letters A M N = i, 40, 50 =91, and 
is thus a simile of "Jehovah Adonai " = io, 5, 6, 5 and i, 4, 50, 10 = 91 
together ; it is one form of the Hebrew word for " truth ". In common 
parlance Amen is said to mean ** so be it ". [w. w. w.] 

But, in esoteric parlance Avien means "the concealed". Manetho 
Sebennites says the word signifies tJiat which is hidden and we know 
through Hecataeus and others that the Egyptians used the word to call 
upon their great God of Mystery, Ammon (or ** Ammas, the hidden 
god ") to make himself conspicuous and manifest to them. Bonomi, the 
famous hieroglyphist, calls his worshippers very pertinently the 
** AnafinQph ", and Mr. Bonwick quotes a writer who says : ** Ammon, the 
hidden god, will remain for ever hidden till anthropomorphically revealed ; 
gods who are afar off are useless ". Amen is styled " Lord of the 
new-moon festival ". Jehovah-Adonai is a new form of the ram-headed 
god Amoun or Ammon (q.v,) who was invoked by the Egyptian priests 
under the name of Ameii. 

Amenti (Eg,), Esoterically and literally, the dwelling of the God 
Amen, or Amoun, or the " hidden ", secret god. Exoterically the kingdom 
of Osiris divided into fourteen parts, each of which was set aside for 
some purpose connected with the after state of the defunct. Among 
other things, in one of these was the Hall of Judgment. It was the 
" Land of the West '*, the "Secret Dwelling", the dark land, and the 
"doorless house". But it was also Kcr-neter, the "abode of the gods", 
and the " land of ghosts " like the " Hades" of the Greeks (q-v.). It 
was also the " Good Father's House " (in which there are " many 
mansions "). The fourteen divisions comprised, among many others, 
Aanroo (q.v,)j the hall of the Two Truths, the Land of Bliss, N^/^r-jr^r 
" the funeral (or burial) place " Otamer-xer, the " Silence-loving Fields ", 
and also many other mystical halls and dwellings, one like the Slieol of 
the Hebrews, another like the Devachan of the Occultists, etc., etc. 
Out of the fifteen gates of the abode of Osiris, there were two chief ones, 



GLOSSARY 19 

the " gate of entrance " or RustUy and the " gate of exit " (reincarnation) 
Amh, But there was no room in Amenti to represent the orthodox 
Christian Hell. The worst of all was the Hall of the eternal Sleep and 
Darkness. As Lepsius has it, the defunct " sleep (therein) in incormptihle 
forms, they wake not to see their brethren, they recognize no longer 
father and mother, their hearts feel nought toward their wife and 
children. This is the dwelling of the god All-Dead. . . . Each 
trembles to pray to him, for he hears not. Nobody can praise him, for 
he regards not those who adore him. Neither does he notice any offering 
brought to him." This god is Karmic Decree ; the land of Silence— the 
abode of those who die absolute disbelievers, those dead from accident 
before their allotted time, and finally the dead on the threshold oi Avitchi^ 
which is never in Amenti or any other subjective state, save in one case, 
but on this land of forced re-birth. These tarried not very long even in 
their state of heavy sleep, of oblivion and darkness, but, were carried 
more or less speedily toward Amh the ** exit gate ". 

Amesha Spentas (Zend). Amshaspends. The six angels or divine 
Forces personified as gods who attend upon Ahura Mazda, of which he is 
the synthesis and the seventh. They are one of the prototypes of the 
Roman Catholic ** Seven Spirits " or Angels with Michael as chief, or the 
" Celestial Host " ; the ** Seven Angels of the Presence ". They are the 
Builders, Cosmocratores, of the Gnostics and identical with the Seven Pra- 
jipatis, the Sephiroth, etc. (q.v.). 

Amit&bha, The Chinese perversion of the Sanskrit Amrita Buddha, or 
the " Immortal Enlightened ", a name of Gautama Buddha. The name 
has such variations as Amita, Abida, Amitaya, etc., and is explained as 
meaning both ** Boundless Age " and ** Boundless Light ". The 
original conception of the ideal of an impersonal divine light has 
been anthropomorphized with time. 

Ammon (Eg.). One of the great gods of Egypt. Amnion or Amoun 
is far older than Amoun-Ra, and is identified with Baal. Hammon, the 
Lord of Heaven. Amoun-Ra was Ra the Spiritual Sun, the ** Sun 
of Righteousness", etc., for — "the Lord God is a Sun". He is 
the God of Mystery and the hieroglyphics of his name are often reversed. 
He is Pan, All-Nature esoterically, and therefore the universe, and the 
** Lord of Eternity ". Ra, as declared by an old inscription, was 
"begotten by Neith but not engendered". He is called the "self- 
begotten " Ra, and created goodness from a glance of his fiery eye, as 
Set-Typhon created evil from his. As Ammon (also Amoun and Amen), 
Ra, he is " Lord of the worlds enthroned on the Sun's disk and 
appears in the abyss of heaven ". A very ancient hymn spells the name 
" Amen-ra ", and hails the " Lord of the thrones of the earth. • . Lord 



r ' 



\ » 



^ 



20 THEOSOPHICAL 

of Truth, father of the gods, maker of man, creator of the beasts, Lord 
of Existence, Enhghtener of the Earth, sailing in heaven in tranquillity. 
. . . All hearts are softened at beholding thee, sovereign of life, 
health and strength ! We worship thy spirit who alone made us **, etc., etc. 
(See Bon wick's Egyptian Belief.) Ammon Ra is called ** his mother's 
husband" and her son. (See ** Chnoumis " and ** Chnouphis " and also 
Secret Doctrine I, pp. 91 and 393). It was to the ** ram -headed " god 
that the Jews sacrificed lambs, and the lamb of Christian theology is a 
disguised reminiscence of the ram. 

Ammoniiis Saccas. A great and good philosopher who lived in 
Alexandria between the second and third centuries of our era, and who 
was the founder of the Neo-Platonic School of Philaletheians or ** lovers 
of truth ". He was of poor birth and born of Christian parents, but 
endowed with such prominent, almost divine, goodness as to be called 
Theodidaktosy the ** god-taught ". He honoured that which was good in 
Christianity, but broke with it and the churches very early, being unable 
to find in it any superiority over the older religions. 

Amrita (Sk.J. The ambrosial drink or food of the gods ; the food 
giving immortality. The elixir of life churned out of the ocean of milk 
in the Puranic allegory. An old Vedic term applied to the sacred Soma 
juice in the Temple Mysteries. 

Amfilam MAlam (Sk,). Lit., the ** rootless root " ; Mulaprakriti of 
the Vedintins, the spiritual ** root of nature ". 

Amun {Copt.). The Egyptian god of wisdom, who had only Initiates 
or Hierophants to serve him as priests. 

And. (Chald.). The ** invisible heaven " or Astral Light ; the heavenly 
mother of the terrestrial sea. Mar, whence probably the origin of Anna, 
the mother of Mary. 

Anacalypsis (Gr.J., or an ** Attempt to withdraw the veil of the Saitic 
Isis ", by Godfrey Higgins. This is a very valuable work, now only 
obtainable at extravagant prices ; it treats of the origin of all myths, 
religions and mysteries, and displays an immense fund of classical 
erudition, [w. w. w.] 

An&g&min (Sk.J. Anagam. One who is no longer to be reborn 
into the world of desire. One stage before becoming Arhat and ready for 
Nirvina. The third of the four grades of holiness on the way to final 
Initiation. 

An&hata Chakram (Sk.J. The seat or ** wheel " of life ; the heart, 
according to some commentators. 

An&hata Shabda (Sk.J. The mystic voices and sounds heard by the 
Yogi at the incipient stage of his meditation. The third of the four states 



GLOSSARY 21 

of sound, otherwise called Madhyam^ — the fourth state being when it 
is perceptible by the physical sense of hearing. The sound in its previous 
stages is not heard except by those who have developed their internal, 
highest spiritual senses. The four stages are called respectively, Para, 
Pashyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari. 

Anaitia (Chedd,), A derivation from Ana (q.v,), a goddess identical with 
the Hindu Annapurna, one of the names of KkW — the female aspect of 
Siva — at her best. 

Analo^etioists. The disciples of Ammonius Saccas (q-v,)^ so called 
because of their practice of interpreting all sacred legends, myths 
and mysteries by a principle of analogy and correspondence, which 
is now found in the Kabbalistic system, and pre-eminently so in the 
Schools of Esoteric Philosophy, in the East. (See " The Twelve Signs of 
the Zodiac," by T. Subba Row in Fivi Years of Theosophy,) 

Ananda (Sk,), Bliss, joy, felicity, happiness. A name of the favourite 
disciple of Gautama, the Lord Buddha. 

Ananda-Lahari (Sk,). ** The wave of joy " ; a beautiful poem written 
by Sankar^chirya, a hymn to Pdrvati, very mystical and occult. 

Anandamaya-Kosha (Sk,). '' The illusive Sheath of Bliss ", f.^., the 
mayavic or illusory form, the appearance of that which is formless, 
** Bliss ", or the higher soul. The Vedantic name for one of the five 
Koshas or " principles " in man ; identical with our Atm&-Buddhi or the 
Spiritual Soul. 

Anan^a (Sk.), The " Bodiless ". An epithet of Kama, god of love. 

Ananta-Sesha (Sk.). The Serpent of Eternity — the couch of Vishnu 
during Pralaya (lit., endless remain). 

Anastasis (Gr.). The continued existence of the soul. 

Anatu (Chald.). The female aspect of Anu (q*v,). She represents the 
Earth and Depth, while her consort represents the Heaven and Height. 
She is the mother of the god Hea, and produces heaven and earth. 
Astronomically she is Ishtar, Venus, the Ashtoreth of the Jews. 

Anaxa^oras (Gr,). A famous Ionian philosopher who lived 500 b.c, 
studied philosophy under Anaximenes of Miletus, and settled in the days 
of Pericles at Athens. Socrates, Euripides, Archelaus and other dis- 
tinguished men and philosophers were among his disciples and pupils. 
He was a most learned astronomer and was one of the first to explain 
openly that which was taught by Pythagoras secretly, namely, the move- 
ments of the planets, the eclipses of the sun and moon, etc. It was he 
who taught the theory of Chaos, on the principle that " nothing comes 
from nothing " ; and of atoms, as the underlying essence and substance of 
all bodies, " of the same nature as the bodies which they formed ". 



22 THEOSOPHICAL 

These atoms, he taught, were primarily put in motion by Notts (Universal 
Intelligence, the Mahat of the Hindus), which Nous is an immaterial, 
eternal, spiritual entity ; by this combination the world was formed, the 
material gross bodies sinking down, and the ethereal atoms (or fiery ether) 
rising and spreading in the upper celestial regions. Antedating modern 
science by over 2000 years, he taught that the stars were of the same 
material as our earth, and the sun a glowing mass ; that the moon was 
a dark, uninhabitable body, receiving its light from the sun ; the comets, 
wandering stars or bodies ; and over and al)Ove the said science, he 
confessed himself thoroughly convinced that the real existence of things^ 
perceived by our senses, could not be demonstrably proved. He died in 
exile at Lampsacus at the age of seventy-two. 

Anoients, The. A name given by Occultists to the seven creative 
Rays, born of Chaos, or the ** Deep ". 

Anda-Katfiha (Sk.), The outer covering, or the ** shell " of Brahma*s 
e^g ; the area within which our manifested universe is encompassed. 

Androgyne Goat (of Mendes). See ** Baphomet '*. 

Androgyne Ray (Esot,), The first differentiated ray ; the Second Logos; 
Adam Kadmon in the Kahalah; the " male and female created he them ", 
of the first chapter of Gemsis, 

Audumla (Scand,), The symbol of nature in the Norse mythology; 
the cow who licks the salt rock, whence the divine Buri is born, before 
man*s creation. 

Angaraka (Sk.). Fire Star ; the planet Mars ; in Tibetan, Mig-mar. 

Augiras. One of the Praj&patis. A son of Daksha ; a lawyer, etc., etc. 

Angirasas (Sk.), The generic name of several Puninic individuals 
and things ; a class of Pitris^ the ancestors of man ; a river in Plaksha, 
one of the Sapta dwlpas (g.v.J. 

Angra Mainyus (Zend,), The Zoroastrian name for Ahriman ; the 
evil spirit of destruction and opposition who (in the Vendtddd, Fargard I.) 
is said by Ahura Mazda to " counter-create by his witchcraft " every 
beautiful land the God creates ; for ** Angra Mainyu is all death ". 

AnimaMundi (Lat.), The " Soul of the World ", the same as the Alaya 
of the Northern Buddhists ; the divine essence which permeates, animates 
and informs all, from the smallest atom of matter to man and god. It is 
in a sense the ** seven-skinned mother " of the stanzas in the Secret 
Doctrine^ the essence of seven planes of sentience, consciousness and 
differentiation, moral and physical. In its highest aspect it is Nirvana, 
in its lowest Astral Light. It was feminine with the Gnostics, the early 
Christians and the Nazarenes ; bisexual with other sects, who considered 
it only in its four lower planes. Of igneous, ethereal nature in the 



GLOSSARY 23 

objective world of form (and then ether), and divine and spiritual in its 
three higher planes. When it is said that every human soul was born 
by detaching itself from the Annua Mundi, it means, esoterically, that 
our higher Egos are of an essence identical with //, which is a radiation 
of the ever unknown Universal Absolute. 

Anjala (Sk,), One of the personified powers which spring from 
Brahma's body — the Prajapatis. 

Anjana (Sk,), A serpent, a son of Kasyapa Rishi. 

Annamaya Kosha (Sk,), A Vedantic term. The same as SthUla 
Shanra or the physical body. It is the first " sheath *' of ih^ five sheaths 
accepted by the Vedantins, a sheath being the same as that which is 
called ** principle " in Theosophy. 

Annapura (Sk,), See ** Ana ". 

Annedotus (Gr,), The generic name for the Dragons or Men-Fishes, 
of which there were five. The historian Berosus narrates that there rose 
out of the Erythraean Sea on several occasions a semi-daemon named 
Cannes or Annedotus, who although part animal yet taught the Chaldeans 
useful arts and everything that could humanise them. (See Lenormant 
Chaldean Magic, p. 203, and also ** Cannes ".) [w.w.w.] 

Anoia (Or.), "Want of understanding", "folly". Anoia is the 
name given by Plato and others to the lower Manas when too closely 
allied with Kama, which is irrational (agnoia). The Greek word a^wo/a is 
evidently a derivation from and cognate to the Sanskrit word ajndna 
(phonetically, agnyana) or ignorance, irrationality, absence of knowledge. 
(See ** Agnoia " and '* Agnostic ".) 

Anouki (Eg')' ^ form of Isis; the goddess of life, from which name 
the Hebrew Ank, life. (See " Anuki.") 

Ansumat (Sk,), A Purjinic personage, the ** nephew of 60,000 
uncles " King Sagara's sons, who were 'reduced to ashes by a single 
glance from Kapila Rishi's " Eye ". 

Antahkarana (Sk,),, or Antaskarana. The term has various mean- 
ings, which differ with every school of philosophy and sect. Thus 
Sankaracharya renders the word as "understanding"; others, as "the 
internal instrument, the Soul, formed by the thinking principle and 
egoism " ; whereas the Cccultists explain it as thepath or bridge between 
the Higher and the Lower Manas, the divine Ego, and the personal Soul 
of man. It serves as a medium of communication between the two, 
and conveys from the Lower to the Higher Ego all those personal 
impressions and thoughts of men which can, by their nature, be 
assimilated and stored by the undying Entity, and be thus made 
immortal with it, these being the only elements of the evanescent 
PersofuUity that survive death and time. It thus stands to reason that 



24 THEOSOPHICAL 

only that which is noble, spiritual and divine in man can testify in 
Eternity to his having lived. 

Anthesteria (Gr.), The feast of Flowers (Floralia) : during this 
festival the rite of Baptism or purification was performed in the 
Eleusinian Mysteries in the temple lakes, the Limnae, when the Mysta^ 
were made to pass through the ** narrow gate " of Dionysus, to emerge 
therefrom as full Initiates. 

Anthropolo^. The Science of man ; it embraces among other 
things : — Physiology^ or that branch of natural science which discloses 
the mysteries of the organs and their functions in men, animals and 
plants ; and also, and especially, — Psychology or the great, and in our 
days, too much neglected science of the soul, both as an entity distinct 
from the spirit, and in its relation to the spirit and body. In modern 
science, psychology deals only or principally with conditions of the 
nervous system, and almost absolutely ignores the psychical essence 
and nature. Physicians denominate the science of insanity psychology, 
and name the lunacy chair in medical colleges by that designation. (Isis 
Unveiled,) 

Anthropomorphism (Gr,), From " anthropos " meaning man. The 
act of endowing god or gods with a human form and human attributes 
or (qualities. 

Anu (Sk,). An ** atom ", a title of Brahma, who is said to be an atom 
just as is the infinite universe. A hint at the pantheistic nature of 
the god. 

Anu fChald.), One of the highest of Babylonian deities, ** King of 
Angels and SpiT^'ts, Lord of the city of Erech '\ He is the Ruler and 
God of Heaven and Earth. His symbol is a star and a kind of Maltese 
cross — emblems of divinity and sovereignty. He is an abstract divinity 
supposed to inform the whole expense of ethereal space or heaven, while 
his *' wife " informs the more material planes. Both are the types of the 
Ouranos and Gaia of Hesiod. They sprang from the original Chaos. 
All his titles and attributes are graphic and indicate health, purity 
physical and moral, antiquity and holiness. Anu was the earliest god of 
the city of Erech. One of his sons was Bil or Vil-Kan, the god of fire, 
of various metals, and of weapons. George Smith very pertinently 
sees in this deity a close connection with a kind of cross breed 
between *' the biblical Tubal Cain and the classical Vulcan " . . . . 
who is considered to be moreover ** the most potent deity in relation to 
witchcraft and spells generally ". 

Anubis (Gr.) The dog-headed god, identical, in a certain aspect, 
with Horus. He is pre-eminently the god who deals with the dis- 
embodied, or the resurrected in post mortem life. Anepou is his Egyptian 



GLOSSARY ^5 

name. He is a psychopoinpic deity, " the Lord of the Silent Land of the 
West, the land of the Dead, the preparer of the way to the other world ", 
to whom the dead were entrusted, to be led by him to Osiris, the Judge. 
In short, he is the ** embalmer " and the *' guardian of the dead ". One 
of the oldest deities in Egypt, Mariette Bey having found the image of 
this deity in tombs of the Third Dynasty. 

AnugitS. (Sk.), One of the Upanishads, A very occult treatise. (See 
The sacred Books of the East,) 

Anugpaha (Sk.). The eighth creation in the Vishnu Purana, 

Anuki (Eg.). " See Anouki " supra. ** The vford Ank in Hebrew, means 
* my life ', my being, which is the personal pronoun Anochi, from 
the name of the Egyptian goddess Anouki '\ says the author of the 
Hebrew Mystery, or the Source of Measures. 

Anomati (Sk.). The moon at the full ; when from a god — Soma — she 
becomes a goddess. 

Anumitis (Sk.). Inference, deduction in philosophy. 

Anannaki (Chald.). Angels or Spirits of the Earth ; terrestrial Ele- 
mental also. 

Aniinit (Chald.). The goddess of Akkad ; Lucifer, the morning star. 
Venus as the evening star was Ishtar of Erech. 

Anup&daka (Sk.). Anupapadaka, also Aupap^duka; means 
** parentless", ** self-existing ", born without any parents or progenitors. 
A term applied to certain self-created gods, and the Dhy^ni Buddhas. 

Anuttara (Sk.). Unrivalled, peerless. Thus Anuttara Bodhi means 
unexcelled or unrivalled intelligence ", Anuttara Dharma, unrivalled law or 
religion, &c. 

Any&msam Aniyasam (Sk.). Ano-raniydnsam (in Bhagavad gitd). Lit., 
** the most atomic of the atomic ; smallest of the small ". Applied to 
the universal deity, whose essence is everywhere. 

AouF (Chald.). The synthesis of the two aspects of astro-etheric light ; 
and the od — the life-giving, and the oh — the death-giving light. 

Ap&m Nap&t (Zend). A mysterious being, corresponding to the 
Fohat of the Occultists. It i? both a Vedic and an Avestian name. 
Literally, the name means the ** Son of the Waters" (of space, i.e.^ 
Ether), for in the Avesta Ap^m Napat stands between the fire -yazatas and 
the water-yazatas (See Secret Doctrine^ Vol. H., p. 400, note). 

Ap&na (Sk.). ** Inspirational breath"; a practice in Yoga. Prdna 
and apdna are the ** expirational " and the ** inspirational " breaths. It 
is calied ** vital wind " in Anugita. 

Apap (Eg.), in Greek Apophis. The symbolical Serpent of Evil. The 
Solar Boat and the Sun are the great Slayers of Apap in the Book of the 



26 tHEOSOPHtCAL 

Dead. It is Typhon, who having killed Osiris, incarnates in Apap, seeking 
to kill Horus. Like Taoer (or Ta-ap-oer) the female aspect of Typhon, 
Apap is called ** the devourer of the Souls '*, and truly, since Apap 
symbolizes the animal body, as matter left soulless and to itself. Osiris, 
being, like all the other Solar gods, a type of the Higher Ego (Christos), 
Horus (his son) is the lower Manas or the personal Ego. On many a 
monument one can see Horus, helped by a number of dog-headed gods 
armed with crosses and spears, kiUing Apap. Says an Orientalist : ** The 
God Horus standing as conqueror upon the Serpent of Evil, may be 
considered as the earliest form of our well-known group of St. George 
(who is Michael) and the Dragon, or holiness trampling down sin." 
Draconianism did not die with the ancient religions, but has passed 
bodily into the latest Christian form of the worship. 

Aparin&min (Sk.). The Immutable and the Unchangeable, the 
reverse of Parinllmin, that which is subject to modification, differen- 
tiation or decay. 

Aparoksha (Sk,), Direct perception. 

Apava (Sk,), Lit, ** He who sports in the Water ". Another aspect 
of Narayana or Vishnu and of Brahma combined, for Apava, like the 
latter, divides himself into two parts, male and female, and creates 
Vishnu, who creates Viraj, who creates Manu. The name is explained 
and interpreted in various ways in Brahmanical literature. 

Apavar^a (Sk,). Emancipation from repeated births. 

Apis (Eg.), or Hapi-ankh, The** living deceased one" or Osiris 
incarnate in the sacred white Bull. Apis was the bull-god that, on 
reaching the age of twenty-eight, the age when Osiris was killed by 
Typhon — was put to death with great ceremony. It was not the Bull 
that was worshipped but the Osiridian symbol ; just as Christians kneel 
now before the Lamb, the symbol of Jesus Christ, in their churches. 

Apocrypha (Gr.). Very erroneously explained and adopted as 
doubtful, or spurious. The word means simply secret, esoteric, hidden, 

Apollo BelYidere. Of all the ancient statues of Apollo, the son of 
Jupiter and Latona, called Phoebus, Helios, the radiant and the Sun, 
the best and most perfect is the one known by this name, which is in the 
Belvidere gallery of the Vatican at Rome. It is called the Pythian 
Apollo, as the god is represented in the moment of his victory over the 
serpent Python. The statue was found in the ruins of Antium, in 

1503- 

Apollonius of Tyana (Gr.), A wonderful philosopher born in 
Cappadocia about the beginning of the first century ; an ardent 
Pythagorean, who studied the Phoenician sciences under Euthydemus ; 
and Pythagorean philosophy and other studies under Euxenus of 



GLOSSARY 27 

Heraclea. According to the tenets of this school he remained a 
vegetarian the whole of his long life, fed only on fruit and herbs, drank 
no wine, wore vestments made only of plant-fibres, walked barefooted, 
and let his hair grow to its full length, as all the Initiates before and 
after him. He was initiated by the priests of the temple of iEsculapius 
(Asclepios) at ^Egae, and learnt many of the ** miracles " for healing the 
sick wrought by the god of medicine. Having prepared himself for a 
higher initiation by a silence of five years, and by travel, visiting 
Antioch, Ephesus, Pamphylia and other parts, he journeyed via Babylon 
to India, all his intimate disciples having abandoned him, as Lhey feared 
to go to the **land of enchantments". A casual disciple, Damis, 
however, whom he met on his way, accompanied him in his travels. 
At Babylon he was initiated by the Chaldees and Magi, according to 
Damis, whose narrative was copied by one named Philostratus a hundred 
years later. After his return from India, he shewed himself a true Initiate, 
in that the pestilences and earthquakes, deaths of kings and other events, 
which he prophesied duly happened. At Lesbos, the priests of Orpheus, 
being jealous of him, refused to initiate him into their peculiar mysteries, 
though they did so several years later. He preached to the people of 
Athens and other cities the purest and noblest ethics, and the phenomena 
he produced were as wonderful as they were numerous and well attested. 
** How is it ", enquires Justin Martyr in dismay — ** how is it that the 
talismans (telesmata) of Apollonius have power, for they prevent, as we 
see, the fury of the waves and the violence of the winds, and the attacks 
of the wild beasts ; and whilst our Lord's miracles are preserved by tradition alone, 
those of Apollonius are tnost nwnerous and actiuilly manifested in present facts ? " 
. . {Qtkpst, XXIV.). But an answer is easily found to this in the fact 
that after crossing the Hindu Kush, Apollonius had been directed by a 
king to the abode of the Sages, whose abode it may be to this day, by 
whom he was taught unsurpassed knowledge. His dialogues with the 
Corinthian Menippus indeed give us the esoteric catechism and disclose 
(when understood) many an important mystery of nature. Apollonius 
was the friend, correspondent and guest of kings and queens, and no 
marvellous or ** magic " powers are better attested than his. At the end 
of his long and wonderful life he opened an esoteric school at Ephesus, 
and died aged almost one hundred years. 

Aporrheta (Gr,). Secret instructions upon esoteric subjects given 
during the Egyptian and Grecian Mysteries. 

Apsaras (Sk,), An Undine or Water-Nymph, from the Paradise or 
Heaven of Indra. The Apsarases are in popular belief the ** wives of 
the gods " and called Surdngands, and by a less honourable term, 
Sumad'dtmajds or the '* daughters of pleasure ", for it is fabled of them 



28 THEOSOPHICAL 

that when they appeared at the churning of the Ocean neither Gods 
(Suras) nor Demons (Asuras) would take them for legitimate wives. 
Urvasi and several others of them are mentioned in the Vedas. In 
Occultism they are certain ** sleep-producing " aquatic plants, and 
inferior forces of nature. 

Ar-Abu NasF-al-Farabi, called in Latin Alpharabius, a Persian, and 
the greatest Aristotelian philosopher of the age. He was born in 950 
A.D., and is reported to have been murdered in 1047. He was an 
Hermetic philosopher and possessed the power of hypnotizing through 
music, making those who heard him play the lute laugh, weep, dance 
and do what he liked. Some of his works on Hermetic philosophy may 
be found in the Library of Ley den. 

Al'ahat (Sk,J, Also pronounced and written Arhat, Arhan, Rabat, &c., 
*'the worthy one", lit., ** deserving divine honours". This was the 
name first given to the Jain and subsequently to the Buddhist holy men 
initiated into the esoteric mysteries. The Arhat is one who has 
entered the best and highest path, and is thus emancipated from 
re-birth. 

Aran! (Sk,), The '* female Arani " is a name of the Vedic Aditi 
(esoterically, the womb of the world). Arani is a Swastika, a disc-like 
wooden vehicle, in which the Brahmins generated fire by friction with 
pratnantha, a stick, the symbol of the male generator. A mystic ceremony 
with a world of secret meaning in it and very sacred, perverted into 
phallic significance by the materialism of the age. 

Aranyaka (Sk,). Holy hermits, sages who dwelt in ancient India in 
forests. Also a portion of the Vedas containing Upanishads, etc. 

Araritha (Heh,), A very famous seven-lettered Kabbalistic wonder- 
word ; its numeration is 813 ; its letters are collected by Notaricon from 
the sentence ** one principle of his unity, one beginning of his 
individuality, his change is unity ". [w. w. w.] . 

Arasa Maram (Sk,). The Hindu sacred tree of knowledge. In occult 
philosophy a mystic word. 

Arba-il (Chald.). The Four Great Gods. Arba is Aramaic for four, 
and il is the same as Al or El. Three male deities, and a female who is 
virginal yet reproductive, form a very common ideal of Godhead. 
[w. w. w.] 

Arohan^el (Gr,). Highest supreme angel. From the Greek arch, 
** chief" or " primordial ", and angdos, ** messenger ". 

ArohsBUS (Gr.), ** The Ancient." Used of the oldest manifested 
deity ; a term employed in the Kahalah ; " archaic ", old, ancient. 
Arohobiosis (Gr,). Primeval beginning of life. 



GLOSSARY 29 

Arohetypal Universe (Kah.). The ideal universe upon which the 
objective world was built, [w.w.w.] 

Arohons (Gr.), In profane and biblical language ** rulers " and 
princes ; in Occultism, primordial planetary spirits. 

Arohontes (Gr,), The archangels after becoming Ferou^rs (q,v,) or 
their own shadows, having mission on earth ; a mystic ubiquity ; imply- 
ing a double life ; a kind of hypostatic action, one of purity in a higher 
region, the other of terrestrial activity exercised on our plane. (See 
lamblichus, Dc Mysterus II., Chap. 3.) 

Ardath (Heb,), This word occurs in the Second Book of Esdras, ix., 
26. The name has been given to one of the recent ** occult novels " 
where much interest is excited by the visit of the hero to a field in the 
Holy Land so named ; magical properties are attributed to it. In the 
Book of Esdras the prophet is sent to this field called Ardath ** where 
no house is builded " and bidden *' eat there only the flowers of the field, 
taste no flesh, drink no wine, and pray unto the highest continually, and 
then will I come and talk with thee ". [w.w.w.] 

Ardha-Nari (Sk,j, Lit,^ ** half- woman ". Siva .represented as 
Androgynous, as half male and half female, a type of male and female 
energies combined. (See occult diagram in his Unveiled j Vol. II.) 

ArdhanaFiswapa (Sk.J. Lit,, **the bi-sexual lord". Esoterically, the 
un polarized states of cosmic energy symbolised by the Kabalisiic 
Sephira, Adam Kadmon, &c. 

Ares. The Greek name for Mars, god of war ; also a term used by 
Paracelsus, the differentiated Force in Cosmos. 

Kr^SifChald,), The ark, the womb of Nature; the crescent moon, 
and a life-saving ship ; also a cup for ofterings, a vessel used for religious 
ceremonies. 

Apghyan&th (Sk,). Lit., *» lord of libations ". 

Arian. A follower of Arius, a presbyter of the Church in Alexandria 
in the fourth century. One who holds that Christ is a created and 
human being, inferior to God the Father, though a grand and noble man, 
a true adept versed in all the divine mysteries. 

Aristobulus (Gr,), An Alexandrian writer, and an obscure philoso- 
pher. A Jew who tried to prove that Aristotle explained the esoteric 
thoughts of Moses. 

Arithmomanoy (Gr,), The science of correspondences between gods, 
men, and numbers, as taught by Pythagoras, [w.w.w.] 

Arjana (Sk,), Lit., the ** white ". The third of the five Brothers 
Pandu or the reputed Sons of Indra (esoterically the same as Orpheus). 
A disciple of Krishna, who visited him and married Su-bhadra, his 



30 THEOSOPHICAL 

sister, besides many other wives, according to the allegory. During the 
fratricidal war between the Kauravas and the Pdndavasy Krishna instructed 
him in the highest philosophy, while serving as his charioteer. (See 
Bhagavad Gitd,) 

Ark of Isis. At the great Egyptian annual ceremony, which took 
place in the month of Athyr, the boat of Isis was borne in procession by 
the priests, and Collyrian cakes or buns, marked with the sign of the 
cross (Tat) J were eaten. This was in commemoration of the weeping of 
Isis for the loss of Osiris, the Athyr festival being very impressive. 
** Plato refers to the melodies on the occasion as being very ancient," 
writes Mr. Bon wick (Eg, Belief and Mod, TJiought), ** The Miserere in 
Rome has been said to be similar to its melancholy cadence, and to be 
derived from it. Weeping, veiled virgins followed the ark. The Nornes^ or 
veiled virgins, wept also for the loss of our Saxon forefathers' god, the 
ill-fated but good Baldur." 

Ark of the CiOTenant. Every ark-shrine, whether with the Egyptians, 
Hindus, Chaldeans or Mexicans, was a phallic shrine, the symbol of the 
yoni or womb of nature. The seket of the Egyptians, the ark, or sacred 
chest, stood on the ara — its pedestal. The ark of Osiris, with the sacred 
relics of the god, was ** of the same size as the Jewish ark ", says S. 
Sharpe, the Egyptologist, carried by priests with staves passed through 
its rings in sacred procession, as the ark round which danced David, the 
King of Israel. Mexican gods also had their arks. Diana, Ceres, and 
other goddesses as well as gods had theirs. The ark was a boat — a 
vehicle in every case. ** Thebes had a sacred ark 300 cubits long," and 
" the word TJuhes is said to mean ark in Hebrew," which is but a 
natural recognition of the place to which the chosen people are 
indebted for their ark. Moreover, as Bauer writes, ** the Cherub was 
not first used by Moses." The winged Isis was the cherub or Arieh in 
Egypt, centuries before the arrival there of even Abram or Sarai. ** The 
external likeness of some of the Egyptian arks, surmounted by their two 
winged human figures, to the ark of the covenant, has often been 
noticed." (Bible Educator,) And not only the ** external" but the 
internal ** likeness " and sameness are now known to all. The arks, 
whether of the covenant, or of honest, straightforward. Pagan 
symbolism, had originally and now have one and the same meaning. 
The chosen people appropriated the idea and forgot to acknowledge its 
source. It is the same as in the case of the ** Urim " and ** Thummin " 
(q*v,). In Egypt, as shown by many Egyptologists, the two objects 
were the emblems of the Two Truths, ** Two figures of Re and Thmei 
were worn on the breast-plate of the Egyptian High Priest. Thme, 
plural thmin, meant truth in Hebrew. Wilkinson says the figure of 



GLOSSARY 31 

Truth had closed eyes. Rosellini speaks of the Thmei being worn as a 
necklace. Diodorus gives such a necklace of gold and stones to the 
High Priest when delivering judgment. The Septuagint translates 
Thummin as Truth ". (Bon wick's Egyp, Belief,) 

Arka (Sk.). The Sun. 

Arkites. The ancient priests who were attached to the Ark, whether 
of Isis, or the Hindu Argtut, and who were seven in number, like the 
priests of the Egyptian Tat or any other cruciform symbol of the three 
and the foury the combination of which gives a male-female number. 
The Argha (or ark) was the four-fold female principle, and the flame 
burning over it the triple lingham, 

Aroueris (Gr.J, The god Harsiesi, who was the elder Horus. He had 
a temple at Ambos. If we bear in mind the definition of the chief 
Egyptian gods by Plutarch, these myths will become more comprehen- 
sible ; as he well says : ** Osiris represents the beginning and principle ; 
Isis, that which receives ; and Horus, the compound of both. Horus 
engendered between them, is not eternal nor incorruptible, but, being 
always in generation, he endeavours by vicissitudes of imitations, and 
by periodical passion (yearly re-awakening to life) to continue always 
young, as if he should never die." Thus, since Horus is the personified 
physical world, Aroueris, or the ** elder Horus", is the ideal Universe; 
and this accounts for the saying that ** he was begotten by Osiris and 
Isis when these were still in the bosom of their mother " — Space. There 
is indeed, a good deal of mystery about this god, but the meaning of the 
symbol becomes clear once one has the key to it. 

Artephius. — A great Hermetic philosopher, whose true name was 
never known and whose works are without dates, though it is known 
that he wrote his Secret Book in the XI 1th century. Legend has it that 
he was one thousand years old at that time. There is a book on 
dreams by him in the possession of an Alchemist, now in Bagdad, in 
which he gives out the secret of seeing the past, the present, and the 
future, in sleep, and of remembering the things seen. There are but 
two copies of this manuscript extant. The book on Dreams by the Jew 
Solomon Almulus, published in Hebrew at Amsterdam in 1642, has a 
few reminiscences from the former work of Artephius. 

Aries (Eg.). The Earth ; the Egyptian god Mars. 

Artufas. A generic name in South America and the islands for 
temples of nagalism or serpent worship. 

Arandhati (Sk.), The ** Morning Star" ; Lucifer- Venus. 

ArApa (SL), ** Bodiless ", formless, as opposed to rvipa^ ** body ", 

or form. 



32 THEOSOPHICAL 

AFY&ksFOtaA (Sk,), The seventh creation, that of man, in the Vishnu 
Pur ana. 

Arwaker (Scand,), Lit., ** early waker ". The horse of the chariot of 
the Sun driven by the maiden Sol, in the Eddas, 

Arya (Sk,), Lit., ** the holy " ; originally the title of Rishis, those who 
had mastered the ** Aryasatyani " (q^v,) and entered the Aryanimarga path 
to Nirvana or Moksha, the great ** four-fold " path. But now the name 
has become the epithet of a race, and our Orientalists, depriving the 
Hindu Brahmans of their birth-right, have made Aryans of all Europeans. 
In esotericism, as the four paths, or stages, can be entered only owing to 
great spiritual development and ** growth in holiness ", they are called the 
** four fruits ". The degrees of Arhatship, called respectively Srotapatti, 
Sakridagamin, An^gamin, and Arhat, or the four classes of Aryas, 
correspond to these four paths and truths. 

Arya-Bhata (Sk.), The earliest Hindu algebraist and astronomer, 
with the exception of Asura Maya (q.v,) ; the author of a w^ork called 
Arya Siddhdnta, a system of Astrononi}-. 

Apya-Dasa fS^.j. L//., ** Holy Teacher". A great sage and Arhat 
of the Mahasamghika school. 

Aryahata (Sk,), The ** Path of Arhatship ", or of holiness. 

Aryasangha (Sk,), The Founder of tlie first Yogacharya School. This 
Arhat, a direct disciple of Gautama, the Buddha, is most unaccountably 
mixed up and confounded with a personage of the same name, who is said 
to have hved in Ayodhya (Oude) about the fifth or sixth century of our 
era, and taught Tantrika worship in addition to the Yogacharya system. 
Those who sought to make it popular, claimed that he was the same 
Aryasangha, that had been a follower of Sakyamuni, and that he was i,ooo 
years old. Internal evidence alone is sufficient to show that the works 
written by him and translated about the year 600 of our era, works full of 
Tantra worship, rituaHsm, and tenets followed now considerably by the 
** red-cap" sects in Sikhim, Bhutan, and Little Tibet,cannot be thesameas 
the lofty system of the early Yogacliarya school of pure Buddhism, which 
is neither northern nor southern, but absolutely esoteric. Though none 
of the genunine Yogacharya books (the Narj'ol chodpa) have ever been 
made public or marketable, yet one finds in the Yogacharya Bhumi Shdstra 
of the pscudo- Xryasdingha. a great deal from the older system, into the 
tenets of which he may have been initiated. It is, however, so 
mixed up with Sivaism and Tantrika magic and superstitions, that the 
work defeats its own end, notwithstanding its remarkable dialectical 
subtilty. How unreliable are the conclusions at which our Orientalists 
arrive, and how contradictory the dates assigned by them, may be seen 
in the case in hand. While Csoma de Koros (who, by-the-bye, never 



GLOSSARY 33 

became acquainted with the GeUik]>a (yellow-caps), but p^ot all his infor- 
mation from "red-cap" lamas of the Borderland), places the />5^/^(?-Arya- 
sanghain the seventh century of our era ; Wassiljew, who passed most of 
his life in China, proves him to have lived much earlier ; and Wilson 
(see Roy, As. Soc, Vol. VI., p. 240), speaking of the period when 
Aryasangha's works, which are still extant in Sanskrit, were written, 
believes it now ** established, that they have been written at the latest^ 
from a century and a half before , to as much after, the era of Christianity ". 
At all events since it is beyond dispute that the Mahayana religious 
works were all written far before Aryasangha's time — whether he lived 
in the ^^ second century b.c. '\ or the ^* seventh a.d. "— and that these 
contain all and far more of the fundamental tenets of the Yogacharya 
system, so disfigured by the Ayodhyan imitator — the inference is that 
there must exist somewhere a genuine rendering free from popular 
Sivaism and left-hand magic. 

Aryasaty&lli (Sk.). The four truths or the four dogmas, which are 
(i) Dukha, or that misery and pain are the unavoidable concomitants of 
sentient (esoterically,. physical) existence ; (2) Samudaya, the truism that 
suffering is intensified by human passions; (3) Nirodha, that the crush- 
ing out and extinction of all such feelings are possible for a man ** on the 
path " ; (4) Mdrga, the narrow way, or that path which leads to such a 
blessed result. 

AryaTarta (Sk.J, The ** land of the Aryas", or India. The ancient 
name for Northern India, where the Brahmanical invaders (** from the 
Oxus " say the OrientaHsts) first settled. It is erroneous to give this 
name to the whole of India, since Manu gives the name of ** the land of 
the Aryas " only to ** the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya 
ranges, from the eastern to the western sea ". 

Asakrit Samadhi (Sk.). A certain degree of ecstatic contemplation. 
A stage in Samadhi. 

Asana (Sk.). The third stage of Hatha Yoga, one of the prescribed 
postures of meditation. 

Asat (Sk.). A philosophical term meaning ** non-being ", or rather 
non-he-ness. The ** incomprehensible nothingness ". Sat, the immutable, 
eternal, ever-present, and the one real ** Be-ness " (not Being) is spoken 
of as being ** born of Asat, and Asat begotten by Sat ". The unreal, or 
Prakriti, objective nature regarded as an illusion. Nature, or the illusive 
shadow of its one true essence. 

Asathor (Scand.). The same as Thor. The god of storms and 
thunder, a hero who receives Miolnir, the ** storm-hammer ", from its 
fabricators^ the dwarfs. With it he conquers Alwin in a *• battle of 

c 



34 THEOSOPHICAL 

words " ; breaks the head of the giant Hriingir, chastises Loki for his 
magic ; destroys the whole race of giants in Thrymheim ; and, as a good 
and benevolent god, sets up therewith land-marks, sanctifies marriage 
bonds, blesses law and order, and produces every good and terrific feat 
with its help. A god in the Eddas, who is almost as great as Odin. 
(See **Mi6lnir" and ** Thorns Hammer".) 

Asava Samkhaya (Pali). The ** finality of the stream ", one of the 
six **Abhijnas" (q-v.). A phenomenal knowledge of the finality of the 
stream of life and the series of re-births. 

Asburj. One of the legendary peaks in the Teneriffe range. A great 
mountain in the traditions of Iran which corresponds in its allegorical 
meaning to the World-mountain, Meru. Asburj is that mount ** at the 
foot of which the sun sets". 

Asch Metzareph (Hcb,), The Cleansing Fire, a Kiibbalistic treatise, 
treating of Alchemy and the relation between the metals and the planets. 

[w.w.w.] 

Ases (Scand.). The creators of the Dwarfs and Elves, the Elementals 
below men, in the Norse lays. They are the progeny of Odin ; the same 
as the y^sir. 

As^ard (Scand,). The kingdom and the habitat of the Norse gods, 
the Scandinavian Olympus; situated ** higher than the Home of the 
Light-Elves ", but on the same plane as Jotunheim, the home of the 
Jotuns, the wicked giants versed in magic, with whom the gods are at 
eternal war. It is evident that the gods of Asgard are the same as the 
Indian Suras (gods) and the Jotuns as the AsuraSy both representing the 
conflicting powers of nature — beneficent and maleficent. They are the 
prototypes also of the Greek gods and the Titans. 

Ash (Heb.J. Fire, whether physical or symbolical fire ; also found 
written in English as Asj Aish and Esch. 

Ashen and Lan^han (Kolarian). Certain ceremonies for casting out 
evil spirits, akin to those of exorcism with the Christians, in use with the 
Kolarian tribes in India. 

Asherah (Heb.J. A word, which occurs in the Old Testament, and is 
commonly translated *' groves" referring to idolatrous worship, but it is 
probable that it really referred to ceremonies of sexual depravity ; it is a 
feminine noun, [w.w.w.] 

Ashmo^ (Zend). The Dragon or Serpent, a monster with a camel's 
neck in the Avesta ; a kind of allegorical Satan, who after the Fall, ** lost 
its nature and its name ". Called in the old Hebrew (Kabbalistic) texts 
the ** flying camel " ; evidently a reminiscence or tradition in both cases 
of the prehistoric or antediluvian monsters, half bird, half reptile. 



GLOSSARY 35 

Ashtadisa (Sk,J. The eight-faced space. An imaginary division of 
space represented as an octagon and at other times as a dodecaludron. 

Ashta Siddhis (Sk,). The eight consummations in the practice of 
Hatha Yoga. 

Ashtar Yidya (Sk.), The most ancient of the Hindu works on Magic. 
Though there is a claim that tlie entire work is in the hands of some 
Occultists, yet the Orientalists deem it lost. A very few fragments of it 
are now extant, and even these are very much disfigured. 

Ash Yggdrasil (Scand,). The '' Mundane Tree", the Symbol of the 
World with the old Norsemen, the ** tree of the universe, of time and of 
life". It is ever green, for the Norns of Fate sprinkle it daily with the 
water of life from the fountain of Urd, which flows in Midgard. The 
dragon Nidhogg gnaws its roots incessantly, the dragon of Evil and Sin ; 
but the Ash Yggdrasil cannot wither, until the Last Battle (the Seventh 
Race in the Seventh Round) is fought, when life, time, and the world 
will all vanish and disappear. 

Asiras (Sk,), Elementals without heads; lit,, ** headless"; used also 
of the first two human races. 

Asita (Sk,), A proper name ; a son of Bharata ; a Rishi and a Sage. 

Ask (Scand,) or Ash tree. The ** tree of Knowledge ". Together 
with the Embia (alder) the Ask was the tree from which the gods of Asgard 
created the first man. 

Aski-kataski-haix-tetrax-damnameneus-aision. These mystic words, 
which Athanasius Kircher tells us meant ** Darkness, Light, Earth, 
Sun, and Truth ", were, says Hesychius, engraved upon the zone 
or belt of the Diana of Ephesus. Plutarch says that the priests used to 
recite these words over persons who were possessed by devils, [w.w.w.] 

Asmodeus. The Persian Aeshma-dev, the Esham-dev of the Parsis, ** the 
evil Spirit of Concupiscence '\ according to Breal, whom the Jews 
appropriated under the name of Ashviedai^ '* the Destroyer", the Talmud 
identifying the creature with Beelzebub and Azracl (Angel of Death), and 
calling him the ** King of the Devils". 

Asmoneans. Priest-kings of Israel whose dynasty reigned over the 
Jews for 126 years. They promulgated the Canon of the Mosaic 
Testament in contradistinction to the *' Apocrypha " (q-v,) or Secret Books 
of the Alexandrian Jews, the Kabbalists, and maintained the dead-letter 
meaning of the former. Till the time of John Hyrcanus, they were 
Ascedeans (Chasidim) and Pharisees ; but later they became Sadducees 
or ZadokiteSj asserters of Sacerdotal rule as contradistinguished from 

Rabbinical. 

Asoka (Sk,), A celebrated Indian king of the Morya dynasty which 



36 TUF.OSOPHICAL 

reigned at Magadha. There were two Asokas in reality, according to 
the chronicles of Northern Buddhism, though the first Asoka — the grand- 
father of the second, named by Prof. Max Muller the ** Constantine of 
India ", was better known by his name of Chandragupta. It is the 
former who was called, Piadasi (Pali) ** the beautiful*', and Devdnam-piya 
** the beloved of the gods ", and also Kdlasoka ; \v\\\\e the name of his 
grandson was Dharmdsdkn — the Asoka of the good law — on account of his 
devotion to Buddhism. Moreover, according to the same source, the 
second Asoka had never followed the 13rahmanical faith, but was a 
Buddhist born. It was his grandsire who had been first converted to 
the new faith, after which he had a number of edicts inscribed on pillars 
and rocks, a custom followed also by his grandson. But it was the 
second Asoka who was the most zealous supporter of Buddhism ; he, 
who maintained in his palace from 60 to 70,000 monks and priests, who 
erected fS4,ooo /o/)^'s and siupas throughout India, rtigiud 30 years, and 
sent missions to Ceylon, and throughout the world. The inscriptions of 
various edicts published by him display most noble ethical sentiments, 
especially the edict at Allahabad, on the so-called ** Asoka's column **, 
in the Fort. The sentiments are lofty and poetical, breathing tender- 
ness for animals as well as men, and a lofty view of a king's mission 
with regard to his people, that might be followed with fjreat success in 
the present age of cruel wars and barbarous vivisection. 

Asomatous (Gr,j, Lit,, without a material body, incorporeal; used 
of celestial Beings and Angels. , 

Asrama (Sk,), A sacred building, a monastery or hermitage for 
ascetic purposes. Every sect in India has its Ashrams, 

Assassins. A masonic and mystic order founded by Hassan Sabah in 
Persia, in the eleventh century. The word is a European perversion 
of ** Hassan ", which forms the chief part of the name. They were 

simply Sufis and addicted, according to the tradition, to haschcesh-eatingy 
in order to bring about celestial visions. As shown by our late brother, 
Kenneth Mackenzie, ** they were teachers of the secret doctrines of 
Islamism; the}- encouraged mathematics and philosophy, and produced 
many valuable works. The chief of the Order was called Shcik-el-Jebel, 
Lianslatcd the * Old Man of the Mountains', and, as their Grand Master, 
he possessed power of life and death." 

Assorus (Chald.), The third group of progeny (J^issan and Assorus) 
from the Babylonian Duad, Tauthe and Apason, according to the 
Theogonies of Damascius. From this last emanated three others, of 
which series the last, Aus, begat Belus — ** the fabricator of the World, 
the Demiurgus*'. ^ 



GLOSSARY 37 

ASSUF fChald,). A city in Assyria ; the ancient seat of a library from 
which George Smith excavated the earliest known tablets, to which he 
assigns a date about 1500 B.C., called Assur KiUh Shergat, 

AssuFbanipalfT^a/i/.j. The Sardanapalus of the Greeks, ** the greatest 
of the Assyrian Sovereigns, far more memorable on account of his 
magnificent patronage of learning than of the greatness of liis empire "» 
writes the late G. Smith, and adds : ** Assurbanipal added more to the 
Assyrian royal library than all the kings uho had gone before him ". As the 
distinguished Assyriologist tells us in another place of his ** Babylonian 
and Assyrian Literature" (Chald, Account of Genesis) that ** the majority 
of the texts preserved belong to the earlier period previous to b.c. 1600", 
and yet asserts that **it is to tablets written in his (Assurbanipal's) 
reign (b.c 673) that we owe almost all our knowledge of the Babylonian 
early history **, one is well justified in asking, ** How do you know ? " 

Assyriail Holy Scriptures. Orientalists show seven such books : the 
Books of Mamit, of Worship, of Interpretations, of Going to Hades ; two 
Prayer Books {Kanmagarri and Kanmikri : Talbot) and the Kantolite, the 
lost Assyrian Psalter. 

Assyrian Tree of Life. *• Asherah " (q.v.J. It is translated in the 
Bible by ** grove "and occurs 30 times. It is called an ** idol " ; and 
Maachah, the grandmother of Asa, King of Jerusalem, is accused of 
having made for herself such an idol, which was a lin^hani. For centuries 
this was a religious rite in Judaea. But the original Asherah was a pillar 
with seven branches on each side surmounted by a globular flower with 
three projecting rays, and no phallic stone, as the Jews made of it, 
but a metaphysical symbol. ** Merciful One, who dead to life raises ! " 
was the prayer uttered before the Asherah, on the banks of the 
Euphrates. The '* Merciful One ", was neither the personal god of 
the Jews who brought the ** grove " from their captivity, nor any extra- 
cosmic god, but the higher triad in man symbolized by the globular 
flower with its three rays. 

Asta-dasha (Sk.J. Perfect, Supreme Wisdom ; a title of Deity. 

Aster't (Heb.J. Astarte, the Syrian goddess, the consort of Adon, or 
Adonai. 

Astrssa (Or.J. The ancient goddess of justice, whom the wickedness 
of men drove away from earth to heaven, wherein she now dwells as the 
constellation Virgo. 

Astral Body, or Astral ** Double ". The ethereal counterpart or 
shadow of man or animal. Tlie Linga Sharira^ the ** Doppelganger ". 
The reader must not confuse it with the Astral Soul, another name 
for the lower Manas, or Kama-Manas so-called, the reflection of tlic 
Higher Ego. • 



T^H THEOSOPHICAI. 

Astral Lighc (OccnlLj, The invisible region that surrounds our 
globe, as it does every other, and corresponding as the second Principle 
of Kosnios (the third being Life, of which it is the vehicle) to the Linga 
Sharira or the Astral Double in man. A subtle Essence visible only 
to a clairvoyant eye, and the lowest but one {viz,, the earth), of the 
Seven Akasic or Kosniic Principles. Eliphas L6vi calls it the great 
Serpent and the Dragon from which radiates on Humanity every evil 
influence. This is so ; but why not add that the Astral Light gives out 
nothing but what it has received ; that it is the great terrestrial crucible, 
in which the vile emanations of the earth (moral and physical) upon 
which the Astral Light is fed, are all converted into their subtlest, 
essence, and radiated back intensified, thus becoming epidemics — 
moral, psychic and physical. Finally, the Astral Light is the same as 
the Sidereal Light of Paracelsus and other Hermetic philosophers. 
** Physically, it is the ether of modern science. Metaphysically, and in 
its spiritual, or occult sense, ether is a great deal more than is often 
imagined. In occult physics, and alchemy, it is well demonstrated to 
enclose within its shoreless waves not only Mr. Tyndall's ^promise and 
potency of every quality of life ', but also the realization of the potency of 
every quality of spirit. Alchemists and Hermetists believe that their 
astral, or sidereal ether, besides the above properties of sulphur, and 
white and red magnesia, or magnes, is the anifna miindi, the workshop of 
Nature and of all the Kosmos, spiritually, as well as physically. The 
* grand magisterium' asserts itself in the phenomenon of mesmerism, 
in the * levitation ' of human and inert objects ; and may be called the 
ether from its spiritual aspect. The designation astral is ancient, and 
was used by some of the Neo-platonists, although it is claimed by some 
that the word was coined by the Martinists. Porphyry describes the 
celestial body which is always joined with the soul as * immortal, 
luminous, and star-like '. The root of this word may be found, 
perhaps, in tlie Scythic Aist-aer — which means star, or the Assyrian 
Istar, which, according to Burnouf has the same sense." (his Unveiled.) 

Astrolatry (Gr,), Worship of the Stars. 

Astrology (Or.). The Science which defines the action of celestial 
bodies upon mundane affairs, and claims to foretell future events from 
the position of the stars. Its antiquity is such as to place it among the 
very earliest records of human learning. It remained for long ages a 
secret science in the East, and its final expression remains so to this 
day, its exoteric application having been brought to any degree of perfec- 
tion in the West only during the period of time since Varaha Muhira 
wrote his book on Astrology some 1400 years ago. Claudius Ptolemy, 
thci famous geographer and mathematician, wrote his treatise Tetrahihlos 



GLOSSARY 39 

about 135 A.D., which is still the basis of modern astrology. The science 
of Horoscopy is studied now chiefly under four heads: viz.j (i) Mundane j 
in its application to meteorology, seismology, husbandry, etc. (2) State 
or civic, in regard to the fate of nations, kings and rulers. (3) Horary, 
in reference to the solving of doubts arising in the mind upon any 
subject. (4) Genethliacalj in its application to the fate of individuals 
from the moment of their birth to their death. The Egyptians and the 
Chaldees were among the most ancient votaries of Astrology, though 
their modes of reading the stars and the modern practices differ consider- 
ably. The former claimed that Belus, the Bel or Elii of the Chaldees, 
a scion of the divine Dynasty, or the Dynasty of the king-gods, had 
belonged to the land of Chemi, and had left it, to found a colony from 
Egypt on the banks of the Euphrates, where a temple ministered by 
priests in the service of the ** lords of the stars " was built, the said 
priests adopting tlie name of Chaldees. Two things are known : (a) 
that Thebes (in Egypt) claimed the honour of the invention of Astrology ; 
and (b) that it was the Chaldees who taught that science to the other 
nations. Now Thebes antedated considerably not only ** Ur of the 
Chaldees ", but also Nipur, where Bel was first worshipped — Sin, his 
son (the moon), being the presiding deity of Ur, the land of the nativity 
of Terah, the Sabean and Astrolatrer, and of Abram, his son, the great 
Astrologer of bibhcal tradition. All tends, therefore, to corroborate the 
Egyptian claim. If later on the name of Astrologer fell into disrepute 
in Rome and elsewhere, it was owing to the fraud of those who wanted 
to make money by means of that which was part and parcel of the 
sacred Science of the Mysteries, and, ignorant of the latter, evolved a 
system based entirely upon mathematics, instead of on transcendental 
metaphysics and having the physical celestial bodies as its upadhi or 
material basis. Yet, all persecutions notwithstanding, the number of 
the adherents of Astrology among the most intellectual and scientific 
minds was always very great. If Cardan and Kepler were among its 
ardent supporters, then its later votaries have nothing to blush for, 
even in its now imperfect and distorted form. As said in his Unveiled 
(i. 259) : '* Astrology is to exact astronomy what psychology is to exact 
physiology. In astrology and psychology one has to step beyond the 
visible world of matter, and enter into the domain of transcendent 
spirit." (See ** Astronomos.") 

AstronomoB (Gr,). The title given to the Initiate in the Seventh 
Degree of the reception of the Mysteries. In days of old. Astronomy 
was synonymous with Astrology ; and the great Astrological Initiation 
took place in Egypt at Thebes, where the priests perfected, if they 
did not wholly invent the science. Having passed through the degrees 



4^ THKOSOPHICAl. 

of Pastophoros, Neocoros, Melanophoros. Kistophoros, and Balahala (the degree 
of Chemistry of the Stars), the neophyte was taught the mystic signs of 
the Zodiac, in a circle dance representing the course of the planets (the 
dance of Krishna and the Gopis, celebrated to this day in Rajputana) ; 
after which he received a cross, the Tau (or Tat), becoming an 
Astronomos and a Healer. (See his Unveiled. Vol. II. 365). Astronomy 
and Chemistry were inseparable in these studies. ** Hippocrates had so 
lively a faith in the influence of the stars on animated beings, and on 
their diseases, that he expressly recommends not to trust to physicians 
who are ignorant of astronomy." ( Arago.) Unfortunately the key to the 
final door of Astrology or Astronomy is lost by the modern Astrologer ; 
and without it, how can he ever be able to answer the pertinent remark 
made by the author of Mazzaroth, who writes : '* people are said to be 
born under one sign, while in reality they are born under another, 
because the sun is notv seen among different stars at the equinox "? Neverthe- 
less, even the few truths he does know brought to his science such 
eminent and scientific believers as Sir Isaac Newton, Bishops Jeremy 
and Hall, Archbishop Usher, Dryden, Flamstead, Ashmole, John 
Milton, Steele, and a host of noted Rosicrucians. 

Asura Mazda (Sk.). In the Zend, Ahura Mazda, The same as 
Ormuzd or Mazdeo ; the god of Zoroaster and the Parsis. 

Asuramaya (Sk.), Known also as Maynsura. An Atlantean astronomer, 
considered as a great magician and sorcerer, well-known in Sanskrit 
works. 

Asuras (Sk.). Exoterically, elementals and evil gods — considered 
maleficent ; demons, and no gods. But esoterically — the reverse. For 
in the most ancient portions of the Rig Veda, the term is used for 
the Supreme Spirit, and therefore the Asuras are spiritual and divine 
It is only in the last book of the Rig Veda, its latest part, and in the 
Atharva Veda, and the Brdhmanas, that the epithet, which had been 
given to Agni, the greatest Vedic Deity, to Indra and V^aruna, has come 
to signify the reverse of gods. Asu means breath, and it is with his 
breath that Prajapati (Brahma) creates the Asuras. When ritualism 
and dogma got the better of the Wisdom religion, the initial letter a 
was adopted as a negative prefix, and the term ended by signifying 
** not a god ", and Sura only a deity. But in the Vedas the Suras have 
ever been connected with Surya, the sun, and regarded as inferior 
deities, devas. 

Aswamedha (Sk,), The Horse-sacrifice; an ancient Brahmanical 
ceremony. 

Aswattha (Sk.). The Bo-tree, the tree of knowledge, ytVws religiosa. 



GLOSSARY 4t 

Asirins (Sk.)y or Aswinau, dual; or again, Asivini-Kumdrau, arc the 
most mysterious and occult deities of all ; who have ** puzzled the oldest 
commentators ". Literally, they are the ** Horsemen '*, the ** divine 
charioteers ", as they ride in a golden car drawn by horses or birds or 
animals, and " are possessed of many forms ". They are two Vedic deities, 
the twin sons of the sun and the sky, which becomes the nymph 
Aswinf. In mythological symbolism they are ** the bright harbingers of 
Ushas, the dawn ", who are ** ever young and handsome, bright, agile, 
swift as falcons'*, who ** prepare the way for the brilliant dawn to those 
who have patiently awaited through the night *'. They are also called 
the ** physicians of Swarga" (or Devachan), inasmuch as they heal every 
pain and suffering, and cure all diseases. Astronomically, they are 
asterisms. They were enthusiastically worsliipped, as their epithets 
show. They are the ** Ocean-born " (i-c, space born) or Abdhtjau, 
** crowned with lotuses '* or Fushkara-srajam, etc, ^ etc. Yaska, the com- 
mentator in the Nirukta, thinks that ** the Aswins represent the 
transition from darkness to light " — cosmically, and we may add, 
metaphysically, also. But Muir and (loldstucker are inclined to see 
in them ancient ** horsemen of great renown ", because, forsooth, of the 
legend ** that the gods refused the Aswins admittance to a sacrifice on 
the ground that they had been en too familiar terms with men ". Just so, 
because as explained by the same Yaska *' they are identified with 
heaven and earth ", only for quite a different reason. Truly they are 
like the Ribhus, '* originally renowned mortals (but also non-renowned 
occasionally) who in the course of time are translated into the com- 
panionship of gods"; and they show a negative character, *' the result 
of the alliance of light with darkness ", simply because these twins 
are, in the esoteric philosophy, the Kumara-Egos, the reincarnating 
** Principles " in this Manvantara. 

Atala (Sk.j, One of the regions in the Hindu iokasy and one of the 
seven mountains; but esoterically Atala is on an astral plane, and was, 
once on a time, a real island upon this earth. 

Atalanta Fugiens (Lat.j, A famous treatise by the eminent Rosicru- 
cian Michael Maier ; it has many beautiful engravings of Alchemic 
symbolism : here is to be found the original of the picture of a man and 
woman within a circle, a triangle around it, then a square : the inscrip- 
tion is, ** From the first ens proceed two contraries, thence come the three 
principles, and from them the four elementary states ; if you separate 
the pure from the impure you will have the stone of the Philosophers ". 
[w. w. w.] 

Atarpi (Ckald,), or Atarpi-nisi, the ** man ". A personage who was 
** pious to the gods" ; and who prayed the god Hea to remove the evil 



42 THEOSOPHICAL 

of drought and other things before the Deluge is sent. The story is 
found on one of the most ancient Babylonian tablets, and relates to the 
sin of the world. In the words of G. Smith " the god Elu or Bel calls 
together an assembly of the gods, his sons, and relates to them that he 
is angry at the sin of the world " ; and in the fragmentary phrases of 
the tablet : '* . . . . I made them .... Their wickedness I 
am angry at, their punishment shall not be small .... let food 
be exhausted, above let Vul drink up his rain ", etc., etc. In answer 
to Atarpi's prayer the god Hea announces his resolve to destroy the 
people he created, which he does finally by a deluge. 

Atash Behram (Zend). The sacred fire of the Parsis, preserved 
perpetually in their fire-temples. 

Atef (Kg'Jy or Crown of Horus. It consisted of a tall white cap with 
ram's horns, and the nyceits in front. Its two feathers represent the two 
truths — life and death, 

Athamaz (Heb.). The same as Adonis with the Greeks, the Jews 
having borrowed all their gods. 

Athanor (Occult,), The *' astral " fluid of the Alchemists, their 
Archimedean lever ; exoterically, the furnace of the Alchemist. 

Atharva Veda (Sk,), The fourth Veda ; ///., magic incantation 
containing aphorisms, incantations and magic formulae. One of the most 
ancient and revered Books of the Brahmans. 

Athenagoras (Gr,), A Platonic philosopher of Athens, who wrote a 
Greek Apology for the Christians in a.d. 177, addressed to the Emperor 
Marcus Aurelius, to prove that the accusations brought against them, 
namely that they were incestuous and ate murdered children, were 
untrue. 

Athor (Eg,). ** Mother Night." Primeval Chaos, in the Egyptian 
cosmogony. The goddess of night. 

Ativahikas (Sk,), With the \'isishtadwaitees, these are the Pitris, 
or Devas, who help the disembodied soul or Jiva in its transit from its 
dead body to Paramapadha. 

Atlantidse (Gr.). The ancestors of the Pharaohs and the forefathers 
of the Egyptians, according to some, and as the Esoteric Science 
teaches. (See Sec, Doct,, Vol. II., and Esoteric Buddhism.) Plato heard 
of this highly civilized people, the last remnant of which was sub- 
merged 9,000 years before his day, from Solon, who had it from the 
High Priests of Egypt. Voltaire, the eternal scoffer, was right in stating 
that **the Atlantida^ {our fourth Root Race) made their appearance in 

Egypt It was in Syria and in Phrygia, as well as Egypt, 

that they established the worship of the Sun." Occult philosophy 
teaches that the Egyptians were a remnant of the last Aryan Atlantidae. 



GLOSSARY 43 

Atlantis (Gr.J. The continent that was submerged in the Atlantic 
and the Pacific Oceans according to the secret teachings and Plato. 

Atm& (or Atman) (Sk,), The Universal Spirit, the divine Monad, the 
7th Principle, so-called, in the septenary constitution of man. The 
Supreme Soul. 

Atma-bhu (Sk,), Soul-existence, or existing as soul. (See ** Alaya ".) 

Atmabodha (Sk,). Lit,, ** Self-knowledge " ; the title of a Vedantic 
treatise by Sankaracharya. 

Atma-jnani (Sk.), The Knower of the World-Soul, or Soul in 
general. 

Atma-matrasu (Sk.). To enter into the elements of the ** One-Self". 
(See Sec. Doct. I., 334.) Atmamatra is the spiritual atom, as contrasted 
with, and opposed to, the elementary differentiated atom or molecule. 

Atma Yidya (Sk,), The highest form of spiritual knowledge ; lit., 
*• Soul-knowledge '*. 

Atri, Sons of (Sk,), A class of Pitris, the ** ancestors of man", or 
the so-called Prajapati, ** progenitors " ; one of the seven Rishis who 
form the constellation of the Great Bear. 

AttaYada (Pali). The sin of personality. 

Atyantika (Sk,). One of the four kinds of pralaya or dissolution. 
The ** absolute " pralaya. 

Atziluth (Heb,), The highest of the Four Worlds of the Kabbalah 
referred only to the pure Spirit of God. [w. w. w.] See ** Aziluth " 
for another interpretation. 

Audlang (Scand,), The second heaven made by Deity above the 
field of Ida, in the Norse legends. 

Audumla (Scand,), The Cow of Creation, the ** nourisher ", from 
which flowed four streams of milk which fed the giant Ymir or 
Orgelmir (matter in ebullition) and his sons, the Hrimthurses (Frost- 
giants), before the appearance of gods or men. Having nothing to graze 
upon she licked the salt of the ice-rocks and thus produced Buri, "the 
Producer " in his turn, who had a son Bor (the born) who married a 
daughter of the Frost Giants, and had three sons, Odin (Spirit), Wili 
(Will), and We (Holy). The meaning of the allegory is evident. It is 
the precosmic union of the elements, of Spirit, or the creative Force, 
with Matter, cooled and still seething, which it forms in accordance 
with universal Will. Then the Ases, ** the pillars and supports of the 
World " (Cosmocratores), step in and create as All-father wills them. 

Augoeides (Gr,). Bulwer Lytton calls it the ** Luminous Self", or 
our Higher Ego. But Occultism makes of it something distinct from 



44 THEOSOPHICAL 

this. It is a mystery. The Augoeides is the luminous divine radiation 
of the Ego which, when incarnated, is but its shadow — pure as it is yet. 
This is explained in the Amshaspends and their Feroiurs, 

Aum (SkJ, The sacred syllable ; the triple-lettered unit ; hence the 
trinity in one. 

Aura (Gr, and Lat.J, A subtle invisible essence or fluid that emanates 
from human and animal bodies and even things. It is a psychic effluvium, 
partaking of both the mind and the body, as it is the electro-vital, and 
at the same time an electro-mental aura ; called in Theosophy the akasic 
or magnetic aura. 

AurnaY&bha (Sk.j. An ancient Sanskrit commentator. 

Aurva (Sk.), The Sage who is credited with the invention of the 
** fiery weapon " called Agtieydstra, 

Ava-bodha (Sk.), " Mother of Knowledge." A title of Aditi. 
Ayaivartika (Sk.J, An epithet of every Buddha : //V., one who turns 
no more back ; who goes straight to Nirvana. 

Ayalokiteswara (Sk,), ** The on-looking Lord." In the exoteric 
interpretation, he is Padmapani (the lotus bearer and the lotus-born) in 
Tibet, the first divine ancestor of the Tibetans, the complete incarnation 
or Avatar of Avalokiteswara ; but in esoteric philosophy Avaloki, the 
*' on-looker ", is the Higher Self, while Padmapani is the Higher Ego 
or Manas. The mystic formula ** Om mani padme hum'* is specially 
used to invoke their joint help. While popular fancy claims for 
Avalokiteswara many incarnations on earth, and sees in him, not very 
wrongly, the spiritual guide of every believer, the esoteric interpretation 
sees in him the Logos, both celestial and human. Therefore, when the 
Yogacharya School has declared Avalokiteswara as Padmapani ** to be 
the Dhyani Bodhisattva of Amitabha Buddha ", it is indeed, because 
the former is the spiritual reflex in the world of forms of the latter, both 
being one — one in heaven, the other on earth. 

Avarasaila Sangh&rama (SkJ. Lit,, the School of the Dwellers on 
the western mountain. A celebrated Vihara (monastery) in Dhana- 
kstchaka, according to Eitel, " built 600 B.C., and deserted a.d. 600". 

Ayastan (Sk,), An ancient name for Arabia. 

Ayasthas (Sk,), States, conditions, positions. 

Avatara (Sk,), Divine incarnation. The descent of a god or some 
exalted Being, who has progressed beyond the necessity of Rebirths, 
into the body of a simple mortal. Krishna was an avatar of Vishnu. 
The Dalai Lama is regarded as an avatar of Avalokiteswara, and the 
Teschu Lama as one of Tson-kha-pa, or Amitabha. There are two kinds 
of avatars : those born from woman, and the parentless, the anttpapadaka. 



GLOSSARY 45 

AYCbury or Abury. In Wiltshire are the remains of an ancient 
megalithic Serpent temple : according to the eminent antiquarian 
Stukeley, 1740, there are traces of two circles of stones and two 
avenues ; the whole has formed the representation of a serpent, 
[w. w. w.] 

Avesta (Zend), Lit,, " the Law ". From the old Persian Abastd, ** the 
law^ ". The sacred Scriptures of the Zoroastrians. Zend means in the 
** Zend-Avesta " — a ** commentary " or '* interpretation ". It is an 
error to regard ** Zeind " as a language, as ** it was applied only to 
explanatory texts, to the translations of the Avesta " (Darmsteter). 

Avicenna. The latinized name of Abu-Ali al Hoseen ben Abdallah 
Ibn Sina ; a Persian philosopher, born 980 a.d., though generally 
referred to as an Arabian doctor. On account of his surprising learning 
he was called ** the Famous", and was the author of the best and the 
first alchemical works known in Europe. All the Spirits of the Elements 
were subject to him, so says the legend, and it further tells us that owing 
to his knowledge of the Elixir of Life, he still lives, as an adept who will 
disclose himself to the profane at the end of a certain cycle. 

Avidya (Sk,), Opposed to Vidya, Knowledge. Ignorance which 
proceeds from, and is produced by the illusion of the Senses or Viparyaya, 

AvikSra (Sk.), Free from degeneration ; changeless — used of Deity. 

AYitohi (Sk,). A state : not necessarily after death only or between 
two births, for it can take place on earth as well. Lit,, ** uninterrupted 
hell **. The last of the eight hells, we are told, ** where the culprits die and 
are reborn without interruption — yet not without hope of final redemption ". 
This is because Avitchi is another name for Myalba (our earth) and also 
a state to which some soulless men are condemned on this physical plane. 

Ayyakta (Sk,), The unrevealed cause ; indiscrete or undifferentiated ; 
the opposite of Vyakta, the differentiated. The former is used of the unmani- 
fested, and the latter of the manifested Deity, or of Brahma and Brahma. 

AxierOB (Gr.), One of the Kabiri. 

Axiocersa (Gr.). 
Axiocersus (Gr.), 

Ayana (Sk,). A period of time ; two Ayanas complete a year, one 
being the period of the Sun's progress northward, and the other south- 
ward in the ecliptic. 

Ayin (Heb.), Lit,^ ** Nothing ", whence the name of Ain-Soph. (See 
** Ain ".) 

Aymar, Jacques. A famous Frenchman who had great success in the 
use of the Divining Rod about the end of the 17th century ; he was often 
employed in detecting criminals ; two M.D's of the University of Paris, 



>f »» >» 
»» »> »» 



46 THFOSOPHICAL 

Chauvinand Garnier reported on the reality of his powers. See Colquhoim 
on Magic, [w. w. w.] 

Aynp Yeda (Sk.). Lit., " the Veda of Life ". 

Aynta (Sk.). 100 Kdti, or a sum equal to 1,000,000,000. 

Azareksh (Zend). A place celebrated for a fire-temple of the Zoroas- 
trians and Magi during the time of Alexander the Great. 

Azazel (Heb.). ** God of Victory " ; the scape-goat for the sins of 
Israel. He who comprehends the mystery of Azazel, says Aben-Ezra, 
" will learn the mystery of God's name ", and truly. See ** Typhon " and 
the scape-goat made sacred to him in ancient Egypt. 

Azhi-Dahaka (Zend). One of the Serpents or Dragons in the legends 
of Iran and the Avesta Scriptures, the allegorical destroyinf^ Serpent or 
Satan. 

Aziluth (Heb.). The name for the world of the Sephiroth, called the 
world of Emanations Olam Aziluth, It is the great and the highest pro- 
totype of the other worlds. '' Atzeelooth is the Great Sacred Seal bv 
means of which all the worlds are copied which have impressed on them- 
selves the image on the Seal ; and as this Great Seal comprehends three 
stages, which are three zures (prototypes) of Nephesh (the Vital Spirit or 
Soul), Ruach (the moral and reasoning Spirit), and the Neshamah (the 
Highest Soul of man), so the Sealed have also received three zures, 
namely Breeah, Yetzeerah, and Aseeyah, and these three zures are only one 
in the Seal '* (Myer's Qabbalah). The globes A, Z, of our terrestial chain 
are in Aziluth. (See Secret Doctrine.) 

Azoth (Alch.). The creative principle in Nature, the grosser portion 
of which is stored in the Astral Light. It is symbolized by a figure 
which is a cross (See ** Eliphas Levi "), the four limbs of which bear 
each one letter of the word Taro, which can be read also Rota, Ator, and 
in many other combinations, each of which has an occult meaning. 

A. and fl. Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning 
and ending of all active existence ; the Logos, hence (with the Christians) 
Christ. See Rev. xxi, 6., where John adopts '* Alpha and Omega " as the 
symbol of a Divine Comforter who ** will give unto him that is athirst of 
the fountain of the water of life freely ". The word Azot or Azoth is a 
mediaeval glyph of this idea, for the word consists of the first and last 
letters of the Greek alphabet, A and 12, of the Latin alphabet, A and Z, 
and of the Hebrew alphabet, A and T, or aleph and tau. (See also 
*< Azoth ".) [w. w. w.] 



GLOSSARY 47 



B. 

Jd, — The second letter in almost all the alphabets, also the second in 
the Hebrew. Its symbol is a house, the form of Beth, the letter itself 
indicating a dwelling, a shed or a shelter. ** As a compound of a root, it 
is constantly used for the purpose of showing that it had to do with 
stone ; when stones at Beth-el are set up, for instance. The Hebrew 
value as a numeral is two. Joined with its predecessor, it forms the word 
Ab, the root of * father ', Master, one in authority, and it has the Kaba- 
listical distinction of being the first letter in the Sacred Volume of the 
Law. The divine name connected with this letter is Bakhour/' (R, M, 
Cyclop,), 

Baal (Chald, Heh,), Baal or Adon (Adonai) was a phallic god. ** Who 
shall ascend unto the hill (the high place) of the Lord ; who shall stand in 
the place of his Kadushn (q,v.) ? " (Psahns xxiv. 3.) The ** circle- dance " 
performed by King David round the ark, was the dance prescribed by 
the Amazons in the Mysteries, the dance of the daughters of Shiloh 
{JudfTCS xxi., et seq,) and the same as the leaping of the prophets of Baal 
(L Kings xviii). He was named Baal-Tzephon, or god of the crypt (Exodus) 
and Scth, or the ptllar (phallus), because he was the same as Amnion (or 
Baal-Hammon) of Egypt, called ** the hidden god *'. Typhon, called 
Set, who was a great god in Egypt during the early dynasties, is an aspect 
of Baal and Ammon as also of Siva, Jehovah and other gods. Baal is 
the all-devouring Sun, in one sense, the fiery Moloch. 

Babil Hound {Chdd, Heh,), The site of the Temple of Bel at Babylcn. 

Bacchus (Gr.J, Exoterically and superficially the god of wine and 
the vintage, and of licentiousness and joy ; but the esoteric meaning of 
this personification is more abstruse and philosophical. He is the Osiris 
of Egypt, and his life and significance belong to the same group as the 
other solar deities, all ** sin-bearing," killed and resurrected ; e.g,y as 
Dionysos or Atys of Phrygia (Adonis, or the Syrian Tammuz), as Ausonius, 
Baldur (q.v.), &c., &c. All these were put to death, mourned for, and 
restored to life. The rejoicings for Atys took place at the Hilaria on 
the ** pagan " Easter, March 15th. Ausonius, a form of Bacchus, was 
slain ** at the vernal equinox, March 21st, and rose in three days". 
Tammuz, the double of Adonis and Atys, was mourned by the women at 
the ** grove" of his name ** over Bethlehem, where the infant Jesus cried ", 
says St. Jerome. Bacchus is murdered and his mother collects the 
fragments of his lacerated body as Isis does those of Osiris, and so on. 



48 THROSOPHICAI. 

DioQysos lacchus, torn to shrcils by the Titans, Osiris, Krishna, all 
descended into Hades and returned again. Astronomically, they all 
represent the Sun ; psychically they are all emblems of the ever-resur- 
recting ** Soul " (the Ego in its re-incarnation) ; spiritually, all the 
innocent scape-goats, atoning for the sins of mortals, their own earthly 
envelopes, and in truth, the poeticized image of divine man, the form of 
clay informed by its God. 

Bacon, Roger. A Franciscan monk, famous as an adept in Alchemy 
and Magic Arts. Lived in the thirteenth century in England. He 
believed in the philosopher's stone in the way all the adepts of Occultism 
believe in it : and also in philosophical astrology. He is accused of having 
made a head of bronze which having an acoustic apparatus hidden in it, 
seemed to utter oracles which were words spoken by Bacon himself in 
another room. He was a wonderful physicist and chemist, and credited 
with having invented gunpowder, though he said he had the secret from 
'* Asian (Chinese) wise men ". 

Baddha (SkJ. Bound, conditioned ; as is every mortal who has not 
made himself free through Nirvana. 

Bagavadam (Sk,), A Tamil Scripture on Astronomy and other matters. 

Bagh-bo^ (Slavon.J. **God"; a Slavonian name for the Greek Bac- 
chus, whose name became the prototype of the name God or Bagh and 
bog or bogh ; the Russian for God. 

Bsthak-Zivo (Gn.J. The ** father of the Genii " in the Codex Naza- 
vans. The Nazarenes were an early semi-Christian sect. 

Bal (Heb.). Commonly translated ** Lord ", but also Bel, the Chal- 
dean god, and Baal, an '*idol ". 

Bala (Sk.J, or Panchabaldni. The ** five powers " to be acquired in Yoga 
practice ; full trust or faith ; energy ; memory ; meditation ; wisdom. 

Baldur (Scand.)^ The *' Giver of all Good ". The bright God who is 
** the best and all mankind are loud in his praise ; so fair and dazzling is 
he in form and features, that rays of light seem to issue from him ". 
(Edda), Such was the birth-song chanted to Baldur who resurrects 
as Wali, the spring Sun. Baldur is called the ** well-beloved '*, 
the ** Holy one ", " who alone is without sin ". He is the *' God of 
Goodness'*, who *' shall be born again, when a new and purer world 
will have arisen from the ashes of the old, sin-laden world (Asgard) ''. He 
is killed by the crafty Loki, because Frigga, the mother of the gods, 
** while entreating all creatures and all lifeless things to swear that they 
will not injure the well-beloved ", forgets to mention ** the weak mistletoe 
bough ", just as the mother of Achilles forgot her son's heel. A dart is 
made of it by Loki and he places it in the hands of blind Hcxiur who 



GLOSSARY 49 

kills with it the sunn5'-hearted god of light. The Christmas misletoe is 
probably a reminiscence of the mistletoe that killed the Northern God of 
Goodness. ^ 

Bal-ila (Choi J. One of the many titles of the Sun. 

Bamboo Books. Most ancient and certainly pre-historic works in 
Chinese containing the antediluvian records of the Annals of China, They 
were found in the tomb of King Seang of Wa^ who died 295 B.C., and 
claim to go back many centuries. 

Bandha (Sk.). Bondage ; life on this earth ; from the same root as 
Baddha, 

Baphomet (Gr,), The androgyne goat of Mendes. (See Secret Doctrine, 
I. 253). According to the Western, and especially the French Kabalists, 
the Templars were accused of worshipping Baphomet, and Jacques de 
Molay, the Grand Master of the Templars, with all his brother- Masons, 
suffered death in consequence. But esoterically, and philologically, the 
word never meant ** goat ", nor even anything so objective as an idol. The 
term means according to Von Hammer, ** baptism " or initiation into 
Wisdom, from the Greek words ^a</)7; and //»;Tt9, and from the relation of 
Baphometusto Pan. Von Hammer must be right. It was a Hermetico- 
Kabalistic symbol, but the whole story as invented by the Clergy was 
false. (See " Pan ".) 

Baptism (Gr,), The rite of purification performed during the cere- 
mony of initiation in the sacred tanks of India, and also the later identical 
rite established by John ** the Baptist " and practised by his disciples 
and followers, who were not Christians. This rite was hoary with age 
when it was adopted by the Chrestians of the earliest centuries. Baptism 
belonged to the earliest Chaldeo-Akkadian theurgy ; was religiously 
practised in the nocturnal ceremonies in the Pyramids where we see to 
this day the font in the shape of the sarcophagus ; was known to take place 
during the Eleusinian mysteries in the sacred temple lakes, and is practised 
even now by the descendants of the ancient Sabians. The Mendaeans 
(the El Mogtasila of the Arabs) are, notwithstanding their deceptive name 
of ** St. John Christians ", less Christians than are the orthodox Mussul- 
man Arabs around them. They are pure Sabians ; and this is very 
naturally explained when one remembers that the great Semitic scholar 
Renan has shown in his Vie de Jesus that the Aramean verb seba, the origin 
of the name Sahian, is a synonym of the Greek /^a7rTt;a>. The modern 
Sabians, the Mendaeans, whose vigils and religious rites, face to face 
with the silent stars, have been described by several travellers, have 
still preserved the theurgic, baptismal rites of their distant and nigh-for- 
gotten forefathers, the Chaldean Initiates. Their religion is one of multi- 
plied baptisms, of seven purifications in the name of the seven planetary 

D 



50 THEOSOPHICAL 

rulers, the ** seven Angels of the Presence" of the Roman Catholic Church. 
The Protestant Baptists are but the pale imitators of the El Mogtasila or 
Nazareans who practise their Gnostic rites in the deserts of Asia Minor. 
(See ** Boodhasp ".) 

Bardesanes or Bardaisan, A Syrian Gnostic, erroneously regarded as 
a Christian theologian, born at Edessa (Edessene Chronicle) in 155 of our 
era (Assemani Bihl. Orient, i. 389). He was a great astrologer following 
the Eastern Occult System. According to Porphyry (who calls him the 
Babylonian, probably on account of his Chaldeeism or astrology), ** Bar- 
desanes .... held intercourse with the Indians that had been 
sent to the Caesar with Damadamis at their head " {De Abst, iv. 17), and 
had his information from the Indian gymnosophists. The fact is that 
most of his teachings, however much they may have been altered by his 
numerous Gnostic followers, can be traced to Indian philosophy, and still 
more to the Occult teachings of the Secret System. Thus in his Hymns 
he speaks of the creative Deity as ** Father-Mother ", and elsewhere of 
** Astral Destiny " (Karma) of ** Minds of Fire " (the Agni-Devas) &c. 
He connected the Soul (the personal Manas) with the Seven Stars, deriving 
its origin from the Higher Beings (the divine Ego); and therefore "admitted 
spiritual resurrection but denied the resurrection of the body ", as charged 
with by the Church Fathers. Ephraim shows him preaching the signs 
of the Zodiac, the importance of the birth-hours and *' proclaiming the 
seven". Calling the Sun the " Father of Life " and the Moon the ** Mother 
of Life ", he shows the latter ** laying aside her garment of light (princi- 
ples) for the renewal of the Earth ". Photius cannot understand how, 
while accepting ** the Soul free from the power of genesis (destiny of 
birth) " and possessing free will, he still placed the body under the rule 
of birth (genesis). For ** they (the Bardesanists) say, that wealth and 
poverty and sickness and health and death and all things not within our 
control are works of destiny " {Bibi. Cod. 223, p. 221 — f). This is Karma, 
most evidently, which does not preclude at all free-will. Hippolytus 
makes him a representative of the Eastern School. Speaking of Baptism, 
Bardesanes is made to say (loc. cit. pp. 985 — ff.), " It is not however the 
Bath alone which makes us free, but the Knowledge of who we are, what 
we are become, where we were before, whither we are hastening, whence 
we are redeemed ; what is generation (birth), what is re-generation 
(re-birth)". This points plainly to the doctrine of re-incarnation. His 
conversation (Dialogue) with Awida and Barjamina on Destiny and Free 
Will shows it. ** What is called Destiny, is an order of outflow given 
to the Rulers (Gods) and the Elements, according to which order the 
Intelligences (Spirit-Egos) are changed by their descent into the Soul, 
and the Soul by its descent into the body ". {See Treatise, found in its 



GLOSSARY 51 

Syriac original, and published with English translation in 1855 by Dr. 
Cureton. Spicileg, Syriac, in British Museum.) 

Bardesanian (System). The ** Codex of the Nazarenes ", a system 
worked out by one Bardesanes. It is called by some a Kabala within 
the Kabala ; a religion or sect the esotericism of which is given out in 
names and allegories entirely siii-gm:ris, A very old Gnostic system. 
This codex has been translated into Latin. Whether it is right to call 
the Sdbeanism of the Mendaites (miscalled St. John's Christians), con- 
tained in the Nazarene Codex^ ** the Bardesanian system ", as some do, is 
doubtful ; for the doctrines of the Codex and the names of the Good and 
Evil Powers therein, are older than Bardaisan. Yet the names are 
identical in the two systems. 

Baresma (Zend), A plant used by Mobeds (Parsi priests) in the fire- 
temples, wherein consecrated bundles of it are kept. 

Barhishad (Sk,), A class of the ** lunar" Pitris or *' Ancestors ", 
Fathers, who are believed in popular superstition to have kept up in 
their past incarnations the household sacred flame and made fire-offerings. 
Esoterically the Pitris who evolved their shadows or chhayas to make there- 
with the first man. (See Secret Doctrine, Vol. II.) 

Basileas (Or.), The Archon or Chief who had the outer super- 
vision during the Eleusinian Mysteries. While the latter was an 
initiated layman, and magistrate at Athens, the Basileus of the inner 
Temple was of the staff of the great Hierophant, and as such was one 
of the chief Mysta and belonged to the inner mysteries. 

Basilidean (System). Named after Basilides ; the Founder of one of 
the most philosophical gnostic sects. Clement the Alexandrian speaks 
of Basilides, the Gnostic, as ** a philosopher devoted to the contemplation 
of divine things ". While he claimed that he had all his doctrines from 
the Apostle Matthew and from Peter through Glaucus, Irenaius reviled 
him, Tertullian stormed at him, and the Church Fathers had not suffi- 
cient words of obloquy against the ** heretic ". And yet on the authority 
of St. Jerome himself, who describes with indignation what he had found 
in the only genuine Hebrew copy of the Gospel of Matthew (See his Unv., 
ii., 181) which he got from the Nazarenes, the statement of Basilides 
becomes more than credible, and if accepted would solve a great and per- 
plexing problem. His 24 vols, of Interpretation of tJie Gospels, were, as 
Eusebius tells us, burnt. Useless to say that these gospels were not our 
present Gospels. Thus, truth was ever crushed. 

Bassantin, James. A Scotch astrologer. He lived in the i6th century 
and is said to have predicted to Sir Robert Melville, in 1562, the death 
and all the events connected therewith of Mary, the unfortunate Queen 
of Scots, 



52 THr:OSOPHICAI 

Bath (Heh.J. Daughter. 

Bath Kol {lieh,). Daughter of the Voice : the Divine afflatus, or inspira- 
tion, by which the prophets of Israel were inspired as by a voice from 
Heaven and the Mercy- Seat. In Latin Filia Vocis, An analogous ideal 
is found in Hindu exoteric theology named Vach, the voice, the female 
essence, an aspect of Aditi, the mother of the gods and primaeval Light ; 
a mystery, [w. w. w.] 

Batoo f^gj' The first man in Egyptian folk-lore. Noum^ the 
heavenly artist, creates a beautiful girl — the original of the Grecian 
Pandora — and sends her to Batoo, after which the happiness of the first 
man is destroyed. 

Batria (Eg.), According to tradition, the wife of the Pharaoh and the 
teacher of Moses. 

Beel-Zebub (Heb.J. The disfigured Baal of the Temples, and more 
correctly Beel-Zebul. Bcel-Zcbub means literally " god of Hies " ; the 
derisory epithet used by the Jews, and the incorrect and confused 
rendering of the *'god of the sacred scarabaei ", the divinities watching 
the mummies, and symbols of transformation, regeneration and immor- 
tality. Beel-Zeboul means properly the *' God of the Dwelling" and is 
spoken of in this sense in Matthew x. 25. As Apollo, originally 
not a Greek but a Pheuician god, was the healing god, Paidn, or 
physician, as well as the god of oracles, he became gradually trans- 
formed as such into the '* Lord of Dwelling", a household deity, and 
thus was called Beel-Zeboul. He was also, in a sense, a psychopompic 
god, taking care of the souls as did Anubis. Beelzebub was always the 
oracle god, and was only confused and identified with Apollo latter on. 

Bel (Chald,). The oldest and mightiest god of Babylonia, one of the 
earliest trinities, — Anu (q.v.) ; Bel, " Lord of the World ", father of the 
gods. Creator, and ** Lord of the City of Nipur " ; and Ilea, maker of 
fate. Lord of the Deep, God of Wisdom and esoteric Knowledge, and 
'*Lord of the city of Eridu ". The wife of Bel, or his female aspect 
(Sakti)y was Belat, or Beltis, '* the mother of the great gods ", and the 
** Lady of the city of Nipur ". The original Bel was also called Enu, 
Elu and Kaptu (see Chaldean account of Genesis, by G. Smith). His 
eldest son was the Moon God Sin (whose names were also Ur, Agu and 
Itu), who was the presiding deity of the city of Ur, called in his honour 
by one of his names. Now Ur was the place of nativity of Abram (see 
'* Astrology "). In the early Babylonian religion the Moon ^\as, like 
Soma in India, a male, and the Sun a female deity. And this led almost 
every nation to great fratricidal wars between the lunar and the solar 
worshippers — ^.^., the contests between the Lunar and the Solar Dynas- 
ties, the Chandra and Suryavansa in ancient Aryavarta. Thus we find the 



Glossary 53 

same on a smaller scale betwee*i Uie Semitic tribes. Abram and his 
father Terah are shown migrating from Ur and carrying their lunar god 
(or its scion) with them ; for Jehovah Elohim or El — another form of 
Elu — has ever been connected with the moon. It is the Jewish lunar 
chronology which has led the European ** civilized " nations into the 
greatest blunders and mistakes. Merodach, the son of Hea, became the 
later Bel and was worshipped at Babylon. His other title, Belas, has a 
number of symbolical meanings. 

Bela-Shemesh (Chald. Heb,J, " The Lord of the Sun ", the name of the 
Moon during that period when the Jews became in turn solar and lunar 
worshippers, and when the Moon was a male, and the Sun a female 
deity. This period embraced the time between the allegorical expulsion 
of Adam and Eve from Eden down to the no less allegorical Noachian 
flood. (See Secret Doctrine j I. 397.) 

Bambd, Tablet of; or Mensa Isiaca, A brazen tablet inlaid with 
designs in Mosaic (now in the Museum at Turin) which once belonged 
to the famous Cardinal Bembo. Its origin and date are unknown. It 
is covered with Egyptian figures and hieroglyphics, and is supposed to 
have been an ornament in an ancient Temple of I sis. The learned 
Jesuit Kircher wrote a description of it, and Montfaucon has a chapter 
devoted to it. [w. w. w.] 

The only English work on the Isiac Tablet is by Dr. W. Wynn West- 
cott, who gives a photogravure in addition to its history, description, 
and occult significance. 

Ben fHeb.J, A son ; a common prefix in proper names to denote the 
son of so-and-so, e,g,f Ban Solomon, Ben Ishmael, etc. 

Be-ness. A term coined by Theosophists to render more accurately 
the essential meaning of the untranslatable word Sat, The latter word 
does not mean ** Being'*, for it presupposes a sentient feeling 
or some consciousness of existence. But, as the term Sat is applied 
solely to the absolute Principle, the universal, unknown, and ever 
unknowable Presence, which philosophical Pantheism postulates in 
Kosmos, calling it the basic root of Kosmos, and Kosmos itself — 
"Being" was no fit word to express it. Indeed, the latter is not even, 
as translated by some Orientalists, *' the incomprehensible Entity " ; for 
it is no more an Entity than a non-Entity, but botli. It is, as said, 
absolute Be-ness, not Beings the one secondless, undivided, and indivisible 
All— the root of all Nature visible and invisible, objective and subjective, 
to be sensed by the highest spiritual intuition, but never to be fully com- 
prehended. 

Ben Shamesh (Heb,). The children or the ** Sons of the Sun ". The 



54 thkosophicaL 

term belongs to the period when the Jews were divided into sun and 
moon worshippers — EHtes and Belites. (See ** Bela-Shemesh ".) 

Benoo (Eg.), A w^ord appHed to two symbols, both taken to 
mean ** Phoenix ". One was the Shen-shen (the heron), and the other a 
nondescript bird, called the Rech (the red one), and both were sacred to 
Osiris. It was the latter that was the regular Phoenix of the great 
Mysteries, the typical symbol of self-creation and resurrection through 
death — a type of the Solar Osiris and of the divine Ego in man. Yet 
both the Heron and the Rech were symbols of cycles ; the former, of the 
Solar year of 365 days ; the latter of the tropical year or a period cover- 
ing almost 26,000 years. In both cases the cycles were the types of the 
return of light from darkness, the yearly and great cyclic return of the 
sun-god to his birth-place, or — his Resurrection. The Rech-Benoo 
is described by Macrobius as living 660 years and then dying ; while 
others stretched its life as long as 1,460 years. Pliny, the Naturalist, 
describes the Rech as a large bird with gold and purple wings, and a 
long blue tail. As every reader is aware, the Phoenix on feeling its end 
approaching, according to tradition, builds for itself a funeral pile on the top 
of the sacrificial altar, and then proceeds to consume himself thereon 
as a burnt-offering. Then a worm appears in the ashes, which grows 
and developes rapidly into a new Phoenix, resurrected from the ashes 
of its predecessor. 

Berasit (Heb,), The first word of the book of Genesis. The English 
established version translates this as ** In the beginning," but this ren- 
dering is disputed by many scholars. Tertullian approved of ** In 
power"; Grotius *' When first"; but the authors of the Targum of 
Jerusahmy who ought to have knowm Hebrew if anyone did, translated 
it ** In Wisdom". Godfrey Higgins, in his AnacalypsiSy insists on 
Berasit being the sign of the ablative case, meaning'** in " and ms, rasit, 
an ancient word for Chokmahy ** wisdom ". [w. w. w.] 

Berasit or Berasheth is a mystic word among the Kabbalists of Asia 
Minor. 

Ber^elmir (Scand.), The one giant who escaped in a boat the general 
slaughter of his brothers, the giant Ymir's children, drowned in the 
blood of their raging Father. He is the Scandinavian Noah, as 
he, too, becomes the father of giants after the Deluge. The lays of the 
Norsemen show the grandsons of the divine Biiri — Odin, Wili, and We — 
conquering and killing the terrible giant Ymir, and creating the world 
out of his body. 

Berosus (Chald,), A priest of the Temple of Belus who wrote for 
Alexander the Great the history of the Cosmogony, as taught in the 



GLOSSARY 55 

Temples, from the astronomical and chronological records preserved in 
that temple. The fragments we have in the soi-disant translations of 
Eusebius are certainly as untrustworthy as the biographer of the 
Emperor Constantine— of whom he made a saint (! !) — could make them. 
The only guide to this Cosmogony may now be found in the fragments 
of the Assyrian tablets, evidently copied almost bodily from the earlier 
Babylonian records ; which, say what the Orientalists may, are undeni- 
ably the originals of the Mosaic Genesis, of the Flood, the tower of Babel, 
of baby Moses set afloat on the waters, and of other events. For, if 
the fragments from the Cosmogony of Berosus, so carefully re-edited and 
probably mutilated and added to by Eusebius, are no great proof of the 
antiquity of these records in Babylonia — seeing that this priest of Belus 
lived three hundred years after the Jews were carried captive to Babylon, 
and they may have been borrowed by the Assyrians from them — later 
discoveries have made such a consoling hypothesis impossible. It is 
now fully ascertained by Oriental scholars that not only ** Assyria 
borrowed its civilization and written characters from Babylonia," but 
the Assyrians copied their literature from Babylonian sources. Moreover, in 
his first Hibbert lecture. Professor Sayce shows the culture both of 
Babylonia itself and of the city of Eridu to have been of foreign importa- 
tion ; and, according to this scholar, the city of Eridu stood already 
"6,000 years ago on the shores of the Persian gulf," i,e,^ about the very 
time when Genesis shows the Elohim creating the world, sun, and stars 
out of nothing. 

Bes (Eg,), A phallic god, the god of concupiscence and pleasure. 
He is represented standing on a lotus ready to devour his own progeny 
(Abydos). A rather modern deity of foreign origin. 

Bestla (Scand,), The daughter of the '' Frost giants ", the sons of 
Ymir ; married to Buri, and the mother of Odin and his brothers {Edda), 

Beth (Heh,). House, dwelling. 

Beth Elohim (Heh,), A Kabbalistic treatise treating of the angels, 
souls of men, and demons. The name means ** House of the Gods ". 

Betyles (Phoen,), Magical stones. The ancient writers call them the 
*^ animated stones" ; oracular stones, believed in and used both by Gentiles 
and Christians. (See Sect. Doct, H. p. 342). 

Bhadra Yihara (Sk,). Lit,, ** the Monastery of the Sages or Bodhi- 
sattvas". A certain Vihara or Matham in Kanyakubdja. 

Bhadrakalpa (Sk.), Lit,, ** The Kalpa of the Sages". Our present 
period is a Bhadra Kalpa, and the exoteric teaching makes it last 236 
million years. It is ** so called because 1,000 Buddiias or sages appear 
in the course of it ". (Sanskrit Chinese Did.) ** Four Buddhas have 
already appeared" it adds; but as out of the 236 millions, over 151 



*> 



56 THKc»SOI*HICAl. 

million years have already elapsed, it does seem a rather uneven distri- 
bution of Biiddhas. This is the way exoteric or popular religions 
confuse everything. Esoteric philosophy teaches us that every Root- 
race has its chief Buddha or Reformer, who appears also in the seven 
sub-races as a Bodhisattva (q-v,), Gautama Sakyamuni was the fourth, 
and also the fifth Buddha : the fifth, because we are the fifth root-race; 
the fourth, as the chief Buddha in this fourth Round. The Bhadra 
Kalpa, or the ** period of stability ", is the name of our present Round, 
esoterically — its duration applying, of course, only to our globe (D), the 
** 1,000" Buddhas being thus in reality limited to but forty-nine in all. 

Bhadrasena (Sk.), A Buddhist king of Magadha. 

Bha^ats (Sk,). Also called Sokha and Sivnath by the Hindus ; one 
who exorcises evil spirits. 

Bhagavad-gita (Sk,). Lit., **the Lord's Song". A portion of the 
Mahabharata, the great epic poem of India. It contains a dialogue wherein 
Khrishna — the ** Charioteer " — and Arjuna, his Chela, have a discussion 
upon the highest spiritual philosophy. The work is pre-eminently 
occult or esoteric. 

Bhagavat (Sk.). A title of the Buddha and of Krishna. ** The Lord '* 
literally. 

Bhao (Sk,), A ceremony of divination among the Kolarian tribes of 
Central India. 

Bhirata Yarsha (Sk,), The land of Bharata, an ancient name of 
India. 

Bhargavas (Sk.). An ancient race in India ; from the name of 
Bhrigu, the Rishi. 

Bhashya (^5^J. A commentary. 

Bhaskara (Sk,). One of the titles of Sdrya, the Sun ; meaning "life- 
giver" and "light-maker". 

Bhava (Sk,), Being, or state of being ; the world, a birth, and also a 
name of Siva. 

Bhikshu (Sk.). In Pali Bikkhu. The name given to the first follow- 
ers of Sakyamuni Buddha. Lit., ** mendicant scholar *'. The Sanskrit 
Chinese Dictionary explains the term correctly by dividing Bhikshus into 
two classes of Sramatias (Buddhist monks and priests), viz., ** esoteric 
mendicants who control their nature by the (religious) law, and exoteric 
mendicants who control their nature by diet ; " and it adds, less correctly: 
** every true Bhikshu is supposed to work miracles ". 

Bhons (Tib.). The followers of the old reHgion of the Aborigines of 
Tibet ; of pre-buddhistic temples and ritualism ; the same as Dugpas, 



GLOSSARY 57 

"red caps'*, though the lailer appellation usually applies only to 
sorcerers. 

Bhrantidfiunsanatah (Sh.). Lit,, ** false comprehension or apprehen- 
sion " ; something conceived of on false appearances as a nmyavic^ illu- 
sion ary form. 

BhrigU (Sk.), One of the great Vedic Rishis. He is called '* Son " 
by Manu, who confides to him his Institutes, He is one of the Seven 
PrajdpaiiSy or progenitors of mankind, which is equivalent to identifying 
him with one of the creative gods, placed by the Puranas in Krita Yug, 
or the first age, that of purity. Dr. Wynn Westcott reminds us of the 
fact that the late and very erudite Dr. Kenealy (who spelt the name 
Brighoo), made of this Muni (Saint) the fourth, out of his twelve, 
** divine messengers " to the World, adding that he appeared in Tibet, 
A.N. 4800 and that his religion spread to Britain, where his followers 
raised the megalithic temple of Stonehenge. This, of course, is a 
hypothesis, based merely on Dr. Kenealy's personal speculations. 

Bhihni (Sk,). The earth, called also Prithivi, 

Bhar-BhUYa (Sk.), A mystic incantation, as Ow, Bhur^ Bhuva, Swar, 
meaning ** Om, earth, sky, heaven ". This is the exoteric explanation. 

Bhuranya (Sk.), ** The rapid " or the swift. Used of a missile — 
an equivalent also of the Greek Phoroneus. 

Bhur-loka (Sk.). One of the 14 lokas or worlds in Hindu Pantheism ; 
our Earth. 

Bhutadi (Sk,). Elementary substances, the origin and the germinal 
essence of the elements. 

Bhutan. A country of heretical Buddhists and Lamaists beyond 
Sikkhim, where rules the Dharma Raja, a nominal vassal of the Dalai 
Lama. 

Bhiihta-Yidy& (Sk,). The art of exorcising, of treating and curing 
demoniac possession. Literally, ** Demon '* or ** Ghost-knowledge ". 

Bhfita-sarga (Sk,). Elemental or incipient Creation, i.e., when 
matter was several degrees less material than it is now. 

Bh&tesa (Sk.) Ox BhiMeswara ; lit., ** Lord of beings or of existent 
lives '*. A name applied to Vishnu, to Brahma and Krishna. 

VhSiiA (Sk.). Bhilta : Ghosts, phantoms. To call them ** demons", 
as do the Orientalists, is incorrect. For, if on the one hand, a Bhuta 
is ** a malignant spirit which haunts cemeteries, lurks in trees, animates 
dead bodies, and deludes and devours human beings ", in popular fancy, 
in India in Tibet and China, by Bhutas are also meant ** heretics " who 
besmear their bodies with ashes, or Shaiva ascetics (Siva being held in 
India for the King of Bhutas). 



58 THEOSOPHICAL 

BhuYa-loka (Sk.j, One of the 14 worlds. 

BhuYana (Sk,), A name of Rudra or Siva, one of the Indian Trtmurti 
(Trinity). 

Bifrost (Scand,), A bridge built by the gods to protect Asgard. On 
it ** the third Sword-god, known as Heimdal or Riger ", stands night and 
day girded with his sword, for he is the watchman selected to protect 
Asgard, the abode of gods. Heimdal is the Scandinavian Cherubim with 
the flaming sword, ** which turned every way to keep the way of the 
tree of life ". 

Bihar Gyalpo (Tib.). A king deified by the Dugpas. A patron over 
all their religious buildings. 

Binah (Heb.). Understanding. The third of the 10 Sephiroth, the 
third of the Supernal Triad ; a female potency, corresponding to the 
letter he of the Tetragrammaton IHVH. Binah is called Aima, the 
Supernal Mother, and ** the great Sea *'. [w. w. w.] 

Birs Nimrud (Chald.), Believed by the Orientalists to be the site of 
the Tower of Babel. The great pile of Birs Nimrud is near Babylon. 
Sir H. Rawlinson and several Assyriologists examined the excavated 
ruins and found that the tower consisted of seven stages of brick-work, 
each stage of a different colour, which shows that the temple was devoted 
to the seven planets. Even with its three higher stages or floors in 
ruins, it still rises now 154 feet above the level of the plain. (See 
** Borsippa ".) 

Black Dwarfs. The name of the Elves of Darkness, who creep about 
in the dark caverns of the earth and fabricate weapons and utensils for 
their divine fathers, the JEsir or Ases. Called also ** Black Elves", 

Black Fire (Zohar.) A Kabbalistic term for Absolute Light and 
Wisdom ; *' black " because it is incomprehensible to our finite intellects. 

Black Ha^ic (Occult.), Sorcery ; necromancy, or the raising of the 
dead, and other selfish abuses of abnormal powers. This abuse may be 
unintentional; yet it is still ** black magic" whenever anything is pro- 
duced phenomenally simply for one's own gratification. 

B'ne Alhlm or Beni Elohim (HebJ. ** Sons of God ", Hterally or more 
correctly ** Sons of the gods ", as Elohim is the plural of Eloah. A 
group of angelic powers referable by analogy to the Sephira Hdd, 

[w. w. w.] 

Boat of the Sun. This sacred solar boat was called Sekti, and it 
was steered by the dead. With the Egyptians the highest exalta- 
tion of the Sun was in Aries and the depression in Libra, (See 
" Pharaoh ", the ** Son of the Sun".) A blue light— which is the ** Sun's 
Son " — is seen streaming from the bark. The ancient Egyptians taught 



GLOSSARY 59 

that the real colour of the Sun was blue, and Macrobius also states that 
his colour is of a pure blue before he reaches the horizon and after he 
disappears below. It is curious to note in this relation the fact that it 
is only since 1881 that physicists and astronomers discovered that ** our 
Sun is really blue ". Professor Langley devoted many years to ascertain- 
ing the fact. Helped in this by the magnificent scientific apparatus of 
physical science, he has succeeded finally in proving that the apparent 
yellow-orange colour of the Sun is due only to the effect of absorption 
exerted by its atmosphere of vapours, chiefly metallic ; but that in sober 
truth and reality, it is not ** a white Sun but a blue one ", i.^., some- 
thing which the Egyptian priests had discovered without any known 
scientific instruments, many thousands of years ago ! 

Boaz (Heh,), The great-grandfather of David. The word is from S, 
meaning " in ", and oz " strength ", a symbolic name of one of the pillars 
at the porch of King Solomon's temple, [w. w, w.] 

Bodha-Bodhi (Sk.). Wisdom-knowledge. 

Bodhi or Sambodhi (Sk,), Receptive intelligence, in contradistinction 
to Buddhiy which is the potentiality of intelligence. 

Bodhi Drama (Sk.), The Bo or Bodhi tree ; the tree of ** knowledge ", 
the Pippala or ficus religiosa in botany. It is the tree under which Sakya- 
muni meditated for seven years and then reached Buddhaship. It was 
originally 400 feet high, it is claimed ; but when Hiouen-Tsang saw it, 
about the year 640 of our era, it was only 50 feet high. Its cuttings 
have been carried all over the Buddhist world and are planted in front 
of almost every Vih&ra or temple of fame in China, Siam, Ceylon, and 
Tibet. 

Bodhidharma (Sk,), Wisdom -religion ; or the wisdom contained in 
DJiarma (ethics). Also the name of a great Arhat Kshattiya (one of the 
warrior-caste), the son of a king. It was Panyatara, his guru, who 
" gave him the name Bodhidharma to mark his understanding (bodhi) of 
the Law (dharma) of Buddha ". (Chin, San, Did,), Bodhidharma, who 
flourished in the sixth century, travelled to China, whereto he brought a 
precious relic, namely, the almsbowl of the Lord Buddha. 

Bodhisattra (Sk,). Lit,, " he, whose essence (sattva) has become 
intelligence (bodhi) " ; those who need but one more incarnation to 
become perfect Buddhas, i,e,, to be entitled to Nirvana. This, as 
applied to Manushi (terrestrial) Buddhas. In the metaphysical sense, 
Bodhisattva is a title given to the sons of the celestial Dhydni Buddhas. 

Bodhyanga (Sk,), Lit,, the seven branches of knowledge or under- 
standing. One of the 37 categories of the Bodhi pakchika dharma, com- 
prehending seven degrees of intelligence (esoterically, seven states of 



6o THEOSOPHICAL 

consciousness), and these are (i) Smriti, '• nicuiory "; (2) Dharma pravii* 
chaya, ** correct understanding" or discrimination of the Law ; (3) Virya^ 
'' energy " ; (4) Priti, '' spiritual joy " : (5) Prasrabdhi, ** tranquillity" or 
quietude ; (6) Samudhi, ** ecstatic contemplation " ; and (7) Upeksha 
** absolute indifference '*. 

Boehme f Jacob), A great mystic philosopher, one of the most promi- 
nent Theosophists of the mediaeval ages. He was born about 1575 at 
Old Seidcnburg, some two miles from Gorlitz (Silesia), and died in 1624, at 
nearly fifty years of age. In his boyhood he was a common shepherd, and, 
after learning to read and write in a \'illage school, became an apprentice 
to a poor shoemaker at Gorlitz. He was a natural clairvoyant of most 
wonderful powers. With no education or acquaintance with science he 
wrote works which are now proved to be full of scientific truths ; but 
then, as he says himself, what he wrote upon, he ** saw it as in a great 
Deep in the Eternal ". He had ** a thorough view of the universe, as in 
a chaos ", which yet ** opened itself in him, from time to time, as in a 
young plant". He was a thorough born Mystic, and evidently of a 
constitution which is most rare ; one of those fine natures whose 
material envelope impedes in no way the direct, even if only occasional, 
intercommunion between the intellectual and the spiritual Ego. It is 
this Ego which Jacob Boehme, like so many other untrained mystics, 
mistook for God ; ** Man must acknowledge," he writes, "that his know- 
ledge is not his own, but from God, who manifests the Ideas of Wisdom 
to the Soul of Man, in what measure lie pleases,'' Had this great Theoso- 
phist mastered Eastern Occultism he might have expressed it otherwise. 
He would have known then that the '* god" who spoke through his poor 
uncultured and untrained brain, w^as his own divine Ego^ the omniscient 
Deity within himself, and that what that Deity gave out was not in 
** what measure he pleased," but in the measure of the capacities of the 
mortal and temporary dwelling it informed. 

Bonati, Guido. A Franciscan monk, born at Florence in the XHIth 
century and died in 1306. He became an astrologer and alchemist, 
but failed as a Rosicrucian adept. He returned after this to his 
monastery. 

Bona-Oma, or Bona Dea, A Roman goddess, the patroness of female 
Initiates and Occultists. Called also Fauna after her father Faunus. 
She was worshipped as a prophetic and chaste divinity, and her cult 
was confined solely to women, men not being allowed to even pronounce 
her name. She revealed her oracles only to women, and the ceremonies 
of her Sanctuary (a grotto in the Aventine) were conducted by the 
Vestals, every ist of May. Her aversion to men was so great that no 
male person was permitted to approach the house of the consuls where 



GLOSSARY fl 

her festival was sometimes held, and even the portraits and the busts of 
men were carried out for the time from the building. Clodius, who once 
profaned such a sacred festival by entering the house of Caesar where it 
was held, in a female disguise, brought grief upon himself. Flowers and 
foliage decorated her temple and women made libations from a vessel 
(mellarium) full of milk. It is not true that the mellarium contained 
wine, as asserted by some writers, who being men thus tried to revenge 
themselves. 

Bono, Peter. A Lombardian ; a great adept in the Hermetic Science, 
who travelled to Persia to study Alchemy. Returning from his voyage 
he settled in Istria in 1330, and became famous as a Rosier ucian. A 
Calabrian monk named Lacinius is credited with having published in 1702 
a condensed version of Bono*s works on the transmutation of metals. 
There is, however, more of Lacinius than of Bono in the work. Bono 
was a genuine adept and an Initiate ; and such do not leave their secrets 
behind them in MSS. 

Boodhasp (Chald.), An alleged Chaldean ; but in esoteric teaching a 
Buddhist (a Bodhisattva), from the East, who was the founder of the 
esoteric school of Neo-Sabeism, and whose secret rite of baptism passed 
bodily into the Christian rite of the same name. For almost three cen- 
turies before our era, Buddhist monks overran the whole country of Syria, 
made their way into the Mesopotamian valley and visited even Ireland. 
The name Ferho and Faho of the Codex Nazaraeus is but a corruption of 
Fho, Fo and Pho, the name which the Chinese, Tibetans and even 
Nepaulese often give to Buddha. 

Book of the Dead. An ancient Egyptian ritualistic and occult work 
attributed to Thot-Hermes. Found in the coffins of ancient mummies. 

Book of the Keys. An ancient Kabbalistic work. 

Bopj (Pets,), The Mundane Mountain, a volcano or fire-mountain ; the 
same as the Indian Meru. 

Borri, Joseph Francis. A great Hermetic philosopher, born at Milan in 
the 17th century. He was an adept, an alchemist and a devoted 
occultist. He knew too much and was, therefore, condemned to death 
for heresy, in January, 1661, after the death of Pope Innocent X. He 
escaped and lived many years after, when finally he was recognised by a 
monk in a Turkish village, denounced, claimed by the Papal Nuncio, 
taken back to Ro:ne and imprisoned, August loth, 1675. But facts show 
that he escaped from his prison in a way no one could account for. 

Borsippa (Chald.), The planet-tower, wherein Bel was worshipped 
in the days when astrolaters were the greatest astronomers. It was dedi- 
cated to Nebo, god of Wisdom. (Sec **Birs Nimrud '\) 



62 THEOSOPHICAL 

Both-al (Irish). The Both-al of the Irish is the descendant and copy 
of the Greek Batylos and the Beth-el of Canaan, the ** house of God '' 
(q.v,). 

Bragadini, Marco Antonio. A Venetian Rosicrucian of great achieve- 
ments, an Occultist and Kabbalist who was decapitated in 1595 in Bavaria, 
for making gold. 

Bragi (Scand,), The god of New Life, of the re-incarnation of nature 
and man. He is called ** the divine singer " without spot or blemish. 
He is represented as gliding in the ship of the Dwarfs of Death during 
the death of nature (pralaya), lying asleep on the deck with his golden 
stringed harp near him and dreaming the dream of life. When the 
vessel crosses the threshold of Nain, the Dwarf of Death, Bragi awakes 
and sweeping the strings of his harp, sings a song that echoes over 
all the worlds, a song describing the rapture of existence, and awakens 
dumb, sleeping nature out of her long death-like sleep. 

Brahma (Sk,), The student must distinguish between Brahma the 
neuter, and Brahma, the male creator of the Indian Pantheon. The 
former, Brahma or Brahman, is the impersonal, supreme and uncogniz- 
able Principle of the Universe from the essence of which all emanates, 
and into which all returns, which is incorporeal, immaterial, unborn, 
eternal, beginningless and endless. It is all-pervading, animating the 
highest god as well as the smallest mineral atom. Brahma, on the other 
hand, the male and the alleged Creator, exists periodically in his manifes- 
tation only, and then again goes into pralaya^ i,c,, disappears and is 
annihilated, 

Brahma's Day. A period of 2,160,000,000 years during which Brahni& 
having emerged out of his golden ogg (Hiranyagarhha)^ creates and 
fashions the material world (being simply the fertilizing and creative force 
in Nature). After this period, the worlds being destroyed in turn, by fire 
and water, he vanishes with objective nature, and then comes BrahmA's 
Night. 

Brahm&'s Night. A period of equal duration, during which Brahmd 
is said to be asleep. Upon awakening he recommences the process, and 
this goes on for an age of Brahma composed of alternate ** Days '*, and 
** Nights ", and lasting 100 years (of 2,160,000,000 years each). It re- 
quires fifteen figures to express the duration of such an age ; after the 
expiration of which the Mahapralaya or the Great Dissolution sets in, and 
lasts in its turn for the same space of fifteen figures. 

Brahma Prajapati (Sk,). " Brahma, the Progenitor ", literally the 
** Lord of Creatures ". In this aspect Brahma is the synthesis of the 
Prajapati or creative Forces. 



GLOSSARY 63 

Brahmfi Y&oh (Sk,), Male and female Brahmi. Vich is also some- 
timss called the female logos ; for Vach means Speech, literally. (See 
Manu, Book I., and Vishnu Pur ana.) 

Brahma Yidy& (Sk,), The knowledge, the esoteric science, about the 
two Brahmas and their true nature. 

Bpahm& Yiraj. (Sk,), The same : Brahma separating his body into 
two halves, male and female, creates in them Vach and Viraj. In plainer 
terms and esoterically, Brahma, the Universe, differentiating, produced 
thereby material nature, Viraj, and spiritual intelligent Nature, Vach 
— which is the Logos of Deity or the manifested expression of the eternal 
divine Ideation. 

Brahmachar! (Sk,), A Brahman ascetic ; one vowed to celibacy, a 
monk, virtually, or a religious student. 

Brahmajn&ni (Sk,), One possessed of complete Knowledge ; an 
Illuminatus in esoteric parlance. 

Br&hmail (Sk,), The highest of the four castes in India, one supposed 
or rather fancying himself, as high among men, as Brahman, the abso- 
lute of the Vedantins, is high among, or above the gods. 

Brahmana period (Sk,), One of the four periods into which Vedic 
literature has been divided by Orientalists. 

Brahmanas (Sk,), Hindu Sacred Books. Works composed by, and 
for Brahmans. Commentaries on those portions of the Vedas which 
were intended for the ritualistic use and guidance of the *' twice-born " 
(Dwija) or Brahmans. 

Brahmanaspati (Sk,), The planet Jupiter; a deity in the Rig-Veda, 
known in the exoteric works as Brihaspati, whose wife Tara was carried 
away by Soma (the Moon). This led to a war between the gods and the 
Asuras. 

Brahm&puri (Sk.). Lit,, ** the City of Brahma. 

Brahm&putr&s (Sk,). The Sons of Brahma. 

Brahmarandhra (Sk.), A spot on the crown of the head connected 
by Sushutnna, a cord in the spinal column, with the heart. A mystic term 
having its significance only in mysticism. 

Brahmarshis (Sk.). The Brahminical Rishis. 

Bread and Wine. Baptism and the Eucharist have their direct 
origin in pagan Egypt. There the ** waters of purification " were used 
(the Mithraic font for baptism being borrowed by the Persians from the 
Egyptians) and so were bread and wine. ** Wine in the Dionysiak cult, 
as in the Christian religion, represents that blood which in different 
senses is the life of the world" (Brown, in the Dionysiak Myth). Justin 
Martyr says, ** In imitation of which the devil did the like in the 



64 THFOSOPHICAL 

Mysteries of Mithras, for you either know or may know that they also take 
bread and a cup of water in the sacrifices of those that are initiated and 
pronounce certain words over it '*. (See ** Holy Water ".) 

Briareus (Gr.). A famous giant in the Theogony of Hesiod. The 
son of Coelus and Terra, a monster with 50 heads and 100 arms. He is 
conspicuous in the wars and battles between the gods. 

Briatio World or Briak (Heb.), This world is the second of the Four 
worlds of the Kabbalists and referred to the highest created ** Archangels", 
or to Pure Spirits, [w. w. w.] 

Bride. The tenth Sephira, Malkuth, is called by the Kabbalists the 
Bride of Microprosopus ; she is the final He of the Tetragrammaton ; in 
a similar manner the Christian Church is called the Bride of Christ. 

[w. w. w.] 

Brihadaranyaka (Sk,J, Tlie name of a Upanishad, One of the sacred 
and secret books of the Brahmins ; an Aranyaka is a treatise appended to 
the Vedas, and considered a subject of special study by those who have 
retired to the jungle (forest) for purposes of religious meditation. 

Brihaspati (Sk,), The name of a Deity, also of a Rishi, It is like- 
wise the name of the planet Jupiter. He is the personified Guru and 
priest of the gods in India ; also the symbol of exoteric ritualism as 
opposed to esoteric mysticism. Hence the opponent of King Soma — the 
moon, but also the sacred juice drunk at initiation — the parent of 
Budha, Secret Wisdom. 

Briseus (Gr,), A name given to the god Bacchus from his nurse, 
Briso. He had also a temple at Brisa, a promontory of the isle of 
Lesbos. 

Brothers of the Shadow. A name given by the Occultists to Sorcerers, 
and especially to the Tibetan DugpaSy of whom there are many in the 
Bhon sect of the Red Caps (Dugpa), The word is applied to all prac- 
titioners of black or left hand magic. 

Bubast^ (J^gO- A city in Egypt which was sacred to the cats, and 
where was their principal shrine. Many hundreds of thousands of 
cats were en>balmed and buried in the grottoes of Beni-Hassan-el- 
Amar. The cat being a symbol of the moon was sacred to I sis, her 
goddess. It sees in the dark and its eyes have a phosphorescent lustre 
which frightens the night-birds of evil omen. The cat was also sacred 
to Bast, and thence called *' the destroyer of the Sun's (Osiris*) enemies *'. 

Buddha (Sk.), Lit,, *' The Enlightened ". The highest degree of 
knowledge. To become a Buddha one has to break through the bondage 
of sense and personality ; to acquire a complete perception of the real 
SELF and learn not to separate it from all other selves; to learn 



GLOSSARY 65 

by experience the utter unreality of all phenomena of the visible 
Kosmos foremost of all ; to reach a complete detachment from all 
that is evanescent and finite, and live while yet on Earth in the immortal 
and the everlasting alone, in a supreme state of holiness. 

Buddha Siddharta (Sk,). The name given to Gautama, the Prince of 
Kapilavastu, at his birth. It is an abbreviation of Sarvaritliasiddha 
and means, the " realization of all desires ". Gautama, which means, 
** on earth (f^dn) the most victorious (tama) '* was the sacerdotal name of 
the Sakya family, the kingly patronymic of the dynasty to which the 
father of Gautama, the Kinj^ Suddhodhana of Kapilavastu, belonged. 
Kapilavastu was an ancient city, the birth-place of the Great Reformer 
and was destroyed during his life time. In the title Sakyamuni, the last 
component, muni, is rendered as meaning one '' mighty in charity, isolation 
and silence ", and the former Sakya is the family name. Kvery Orienta- 
list or Pundit knows by heart the story of Gautama, the Buddha, the 
most perfect of mortal men that the world has ever seen, but none of 
them seem to suspect the es:)teric meaning underlying liis prenatal bio- 
graphy, i.e,y the significance of the popular story. The Lalitavistnra tells 
the tale, but abstains from hinting at the truth. The 5,000 Jatakas, or the 
eventsof former births (re-incarnations) are taken literally instead of esoteri- 
cally. Gautama, the Buddha, would not have been a mortal man, had ho 
not passed through hundreds and thousands of births previous to his last. 
Yet the detailed account of these, and the statement that during them he 
worked his way up through every stage of transmigration from the lowest 
animate and inanimate atom and insect, up to tlie higlicst — or many con- 
tains simply the well-known occult apliorism : '' a stone becomes a plant, 
a plant an animal, and an animal a man". Every human being who has 
ever existed, has passed through the same evolution. But the hidden 
symbolism in the sequence of these re-births (jdtaka) contains a perfect 
history of the evolution on this earth, pre and post human, and is a scien- 
tific exposition of natural facts. One truth not veiled but bare and 
open is found in their nomenclature, viz., that as soon as Gautama had 
reached the human form he began exhibiting in every personality the 
utmost unselfishness, self-sacrifice and charity. Buddha Gautama, the 
fourth of the Sapta (Seven) Buddhas and Sapta Tathagatas, was born 
according to Chinese Chronology in 1024 B.C. ; but according to the 
Singhalese chronicles, on the 8th day of the second (or fourtii) moon 
in the year 621 before our era. He fled from his father's palace to 
become an ascetic on the night of the 8th day of the second moon, 597 
B.C., and having passed six years in ascetic meditation at Gaya, and 
perceiving that physical self-torture was useless to bring enlightenment, 
he decided upon striking out a new path, until he reached the state of 

K 



^6 THEOSOPHICAI. 

Bodhi. He became a full Buddha on the night of the 8th day of the 
twelfth moon, in the year 592, and finally entered Nirvana in the year 
543, according to Southern Buddhism. The OrientaHsts, however, have 
decided upon several other dates. All the rest is allegorical. He 
attained the state of Bodhisattva on earth when in the personality 
called Prabhapala. Tushita stands for a place on this globe, not for a para- 
dise in the invisible regions. The selection of the Sakya family and his 
mother Maya, as ** the purest on earth," is in accordance with the model 
of the nativitv of everv Saviour, God or deified Reformer. The tale about 
his entering his mothers bosom in the sliape of a white elephant is an 
allusion to his innate wisdom, the elephant of that colour being a symbol 
of everv Bodhisattva. The statements that at Gautama's birth, the 
newly born babe walked seven steps in four directions, that an Udumhara 
flower bloomed in all its rare beauty and tliat the Nit^a kings forthwith 
proceeded *'/o baptise him ", are all so many allegories in the phraseology 
of the Initiates and well-understood bv exerv Eastern Occultist. The 
whole events of his noble life are given in occult numbers, and every 
so-called miraculous event — so deplored by Orientalists as confusing the 
narrative and making it impossible to extricate truth from fiction — is 
simply the allegorical veiHng of the truth. It is as comprehensible to 
an Occultist learned in symbolism, as it is difficult to understand for a 
European scholar ignorant of Occultism. Every detail of the narrative 
after his death and before cremation is a chapter of facts written in a 
language which must be studied before it is understood, otherwise its 
dead letter will lead one into absurd contradictions. For instance, 
having reminded his disciples of the immortality of Dharmakaya, Buddha 
is said to have passed into Samadhi, and lost himself in Nirvana— /w/;/ 
which none can return. And yet, notwithstanding this, the Buddha is 
shown bursting open the lid of the coffin, and stepping out of it ; salut- 
ing with folded hands his mother Maya w-ho had suddenly appeared in 
the air, though she had died seven days after his birth, &c., &c. As 
Buddha was a Chakravartti (he who turns the wheel of the Law), his body 
at its cremation could not be consumed by common fire. What happens ? 
Suddenly a jet of flame burst out of the Svastica on his breast, and reduced 
his body to ashes. Space prevents giving more instances. As to his 
being one of the true and undeniable Saviours of the World, suffice it 
to say that the most rabid orthodox missionary, unless he is hopelessly 
insane, or has not the least regard even for historical truth, cannot find one 
smallest accusation against the life and personal character of Gautama, 
the ** Buddha ". Without any claim to divinity, allowing his followers 
to fall into atheism, rather than into the degrading superstition ofdeva or 
idol-worship, his walk in life is from the beginning to the end, holy and 



GLOSSARY 67 

divine. During the 45 years of his mission it is blameless and pure as 
that of a god — or as the latter should be. He is a perfect example of a 
divine, godly man. He reached Buddhaship — /.^., complete enlighten- 
ment—entirely by his own merit and owing to his own individual exertions, 
no god being supposed to have any personal merit in the exercise of 
goodness and holiness. Esoteric teachings claim that he renounced 
Nirvana and gave up the Dharmakaya vesture to remain a ** Buddha of 
compassion'* within the reach of the miseries of this world. And the 
religious philosophy he left to it has produced for over 2,000 years 
generations of good and unselfish men. His is the only absolutely 
bloodless religion among all the existing religions : tolerant and liberal, 
teaching universal compassion and charity, love and self-sacrifice, poverty 
and contentment with one's lot, whatever it may be. Xo persecutions, 
and enforcement of faith by fire and sword, have ever disgraced it. Xo 
thunder-and-lightning-vomiting god has interfered with its chaste 
commandments ; and if the simple, humane and philosophical code of 
daily life left to us by the greatest Man-Reformer ever known, should 
ever come to be adopted by mankind at large, then indeed an era of bliss 
and peace would dawn on Humanity. 

Buddhaohhaya fSk.J. Lit., '* the shadow of Buddha *". It is said to 
become visible at certain great events, and during some imposing cere- 
monies performed at Temples in commemoration of glorious acts of 
Buddha's life. Hiouen-tseng, the Chinese traveller, names a certain cave 
where it occasionally appears on the wall, but adds that only he 
** whose mind is perfectly pure ", can see it. 

Buddhaphala (Sk,), Lit., '* the fruit of Buddha ", the fruition of 
Arahattvaphalliiy or Arhatship. 

Buddhi fSk,J, Universal Soul or Mind. Mahdbitddhi is a name of 
Mahat (see ** Alaya"); also the spiritual Soul in man (the sixth princi- 
ple), the vehicle of Atma, exoterically the seventh. 

Buddhism. Buddhism is now split into two distinct Churches : the 
Southern and the Northern Church. The former is said to be the purer 
form, as having preserved more religiously the original teachings of the 
Lord Buddha. It is the religion of Ceylon, Siam, Burmah and other 
places, while Xorthern Buddhism is confined to Tibet, China and 
Nepaul. Such a distinction, however, is incorrect. If the Southern 
Church is nearer, in that it has not departed, except perhaps in some 
trifling dogmas due to the many councils held after the death of the 
Master, from the public or exoteric teachings of Sakyamuni — the 
Northern Church is the outcome of Siddharta Buddha's esoteric teach- 
ings which he confined to his elect Bhikshus and Arhats. In fact, 
Buddhism in the present age, cannot be justly judged either by one or 



68 THEOSOPHICAL 

the other of its exoteric popular forms. Real Buddhism can be appre- 
ciated only by blending the philosophy of the Southern Church and the 
metaphysics of the Northern Schools. If one seems too iconoclastic and 
stern, and the other too metaphysical and transcendental, even to being 
overgrown with the weeds of Indian exotericism — many of the gods of its 
Pantheon havinj^ been transplanted under new names to Tibetan soil — ^it 
is entirely due to the popular expression of Buddhism in both Churches. 
Correspondentially they stand in their relation to each other as Protes- 
tantism to Roman Catholicism. Both err by an excess of zeal and 
erroneous interpretations, though neither the Southern nor the Northern 
Buddhist clergy have ever departed from truth consciously, still less have 
they acted under tlic dictates oi pri est oc racy, ambition, or with an eye to 
personal gain and power, as the two Christian Churches have. 

Buddhochinga (Skj. The name of a great Indian Arhat who went to 
China in the 4th century to propagate Buddhism aiul cDuvcrted masses 
of people by means of miracles and most wonderful magic feats. 

BnAha, (Sk.). *' The Wise and Intelligent", the Son of Soma, the 
Moon, and of Rokini or Taraka, wife of Briliaspati carried away by King 
Soma, thus leading to the great war between the Asuras, who sided 
with the Moon, and the Gods wlio took the defence of Brihaspati (Jupiter) 
who was their Piirohita (family priest). This war is known as the 
Tarakamaya, It is the original of the war in Olympus between the Gods 
and the Titans and also of the war (in Revelation) between Michael 
(Indra) and the Dragon (personifying the Asuras). 

Bull-Worship (See ** Apis "). The worship of the Bull and the Ram 

was addressed to one and the same power, that of generative creation, 

under two aspects— the celestial or cosmic, and the terrestrial or human. 

The ram-headed gods all belong to the latter aspect, the bull — to the 

former. Osiris to whom the bull was sacred, was never regarded as 

a phaUic deity ; neither was Siva with his Bull Nandi, in spite of the 

lingham. As Nandi is of a pure milk-white colour, so was Apis. Both 

were the emblems of the generative, or of evolutionary power in the 

Universal Kosmos. Those who regard the solar gods and the bulls as 

of a phallic character, or connect the Sun with it, are mistaken. It is 

only the lunar gods and the rams, and lambs, which are priapic, and it 

little becomes a religion which, however unconsciously, has still adopted 

for its worship a god pre-eminently lunar, and accentuated its choice by 

the selection of the lamb, whose sire isthe.ram, a glyph as pre-eminently 

phallic, for its most sacred symbol — to vilify the older religions for using 

the same symbolism. The worship of the bull. Apis, Hapi Ankh, or the 

living Osiris, ceased over 3,000 years ago : the worship of the ram and 

lamb continues to this "day. Mariette Bey discovered the Scrapcum^ the 



GLOSSARY 69 

Necropolis of the Apis-bulls, near Memphis, an imposing subterranean 
crypt 2,000 feet long and twenty feet wide, containin*r the mummies of 
thirty sacred bulls. If 1,000 years hence, a Roman Catholic Cathedral 
with the Easter lamb in it, were discovered under the ashes of 
Vesuvius or Etna, would future generations be justified in inferring 
therefrom that Christians were ** lamb " and *' dove " worshippers ? Yet 
the two symbols would give them as much riglit in the one case as in the 
other. Moreover, not all of the sacred ** bulls " were phallic, i.e,y males ; 
there were hermaphrodite and sexless '* bulls ". The black bull Mnevis^ 
the son of Ptah, was sacred to the God Ra at Heliopolis ; the Pacis of 
Hermonthis — to Amoun Horns, &c., &c., and Apis himself was a herma- 
phodite and not a male animal, which shows his cosmic character. As 
well call the Taurus of the Zodiac and all yi ature pliallic, 

Bumapa (Tib,), A school of men, usually a college of mystic 
students. 

Bunda-hish. An old Eastern work in which among other things 
anthropology is treated in an allegorical fashion. 

Burham-i-Kati. A Hermetic Eastern work. 

Buri (Scand.J, ** The producer", the Son of Bestia, in Noise legends. 

Burn Bonga. The ** Spirit of the Hills ". This Dryadic deity is wor- 
shipped by the Kolarian tribes of Central India with great ceremonies 
and magical display. There are mysteries connected with it, but the 
people are very jealous and will admit no stranger to their rites. 

Busardier. A Hermetic philosopher born in Bohemia who is credited 
with having made a genuine poi^'dcr of projection. He left the bulk of his 
red powder to a friend named Richthausen, an adept and alchemist of 
Vienna. Some years after Busardier's death, in 1637, Richthausen 
introduced himself to the Emperor Ferdinand HI, who is known to have 
been ardently devoted to alchemy, and together they are said to have 
converted three pounds of mercury into the finest gold with one single 
grain of Busardier's powder. In 1658, the Elector of Mayence also was 
permitted to test the powder, and the gold produced with it was 
declared by the Master of the Mint to be such, that he had never seen 
finer. Such are the claims vouchsafed by the city records and chronicles. 

Butler. An English name assumed by an adept, a disciple of some 
Eastern Sages, of whom many fanciful stories are current. It is said 
for instance, that Butler was captured during his travels in 1629, and sold 
into captivity. He became the slave of an Arabian philosopher, a great 
alchemist, and finally escaped, robbing his Master of a large quantity of 
red powder. Accordmg to more trustworthy records, only the last 
portion of this story is true. Adepts who can be robbed without 



JO THEOSOPHICAL 

knowing it would be unworthy of the name. Butler or rather the person 
who assumed this name, robhed his ** Master " (whose free disciple he was) 
of the secret of transmutation, and abused of his knowledge — t.^., sought to 
turn it to his personal profit, but was speedily punished for it. After 
performing many wonderful cures by means of his " stone " (j.^., the 
occult knowledge of an initiated adept), and producing extraordinary 
phenomena, to some of which Val Helmont, the famous Occultist and 
Rosicrucian, was witness, not for the benefit of men but his own vain 
glory, Butler was imprisoned in the Castle of Viloord, in Flanders, and 
passed almost the whole of his life in confinement. He lost his powers 
and died miserable and unknown. Such is the fate of every Occultist 
who abuses his power or desecrates the sacred science. 

Bythos (Gr,), A Gnostic term meaning "Depth" or the ** great 
Deep *', Chaos. It is equivalent to space, before anything had formed 
itself in it from the primordial atoms that exist eternally in its spatial 
depths, according to the teachings of Occultism. 



f;L0SSARY " yt 



O. — The third letter of the English alphabet, which has no equivalent 
in Hebrew except Caph, which see under K. 

Cabar Zio (Gnost,). ** The mighty Lord of Splendour " (Codex Naza- 
raeus), they who procreate seven beueficent lives^ ** who shine in their own 
form and light " to counteract the influence of the seven ** badly-disposed " 
stellars or principles. These are the progeny of Karabtanos, the per- 
sonification of concupiscence and matter. The latter are the seven 
physical planets, the former, their genii or Rulers. 

Cabeiri or Kahiri (Phcgn,), Deities, held in the highest veneration at 
Thebes, in Lemnos, Phrygia, Macedonia, and especially at Samothrace. 
They were mystery gods, no profane having the right to name or speak 
of them. Herodotus makes of them Fire-gods and points to Vulcan as 
their father. The Kabiri presided over the Mysteries, and their real 
number has never been revealed, their occult meaning being very sacred. 

Cabletow (Mas.). A Masonic term for a certain object used in the 
Lodges. Its origin lies in the thread of the Brahman ascetics, a thread 
which is also used for magical purposes in Tibet. 

Cadmus (Gr,). The supposed inventor of the letters of the alphabet. 
He may have been their originator and teacher in Europe and Asia 
Minor; but in India the letters were known and used by the Initiates 
ages before him. 

Caduceus (Gr.j. The Greek poets and mythologists took the idea of 
the Caduceus of Mercury from the Egyptians. The Caduceus is found 
as two serpents twisted round a roti, on Egyptian monuments built 
before Osiris. The Greeks altered this. We find it again in the hands 
of iEsculapius assuming a different form to the wand of Mercurius or 
Hermes. It is a cosmic, sidereal or astronomical, as well as a spiritual 
and even physiological symbol, its significance changing with its 
application. Metaphysically, the Caduceus represents the fall of pri- 
meval and primordial matter into gross terrestrial matter, the one Reality 
becoming Illusion. (See Sect. Doct. I. 550.) Astronomically, the head 
and tail represent the points of the ecliptic where the planets and even 
the sun and moon meet in close embrace. Physiologically, it is the 
symbol of the restoration of the equilibrium lost between Life, as a 
unit, and the currents of life performinp^ various functions in the human 
body. 



yi THEOSOPHICAI. 

Csesar. A far-famed astrologer and ** professor of magic," *.^., an 
Occultist, during the reign of Henry IV. of France. ** He was reputed 
to have been strangled by the devil in 1611," as Brother Kenneth 
Mackenzie tells us. 

Ca^liostro. A famous Adept, whose real name is claimed (by his 
enemies) to have been Joseph Balsamo. He was a native of Palermo, 
and studied under some mysterious foreigner of whom little has been 
ascertained. His accepted history is too well known to need repetition, 
and his real history has never been told. His fate was that of every 
human being who proves that he knows more than do his fellow- 
creatures ; he was *' stoned to death " by persecutions, lies, and infamous 
accusations, and yet he was the friend and adviser of the highest and 
mightiest of every land he visited. He was finally tried and sentenced 
in Rome as a heretic, and was said to have died during his confinement 
in a State prison. (See **Mesmer".) Yet his end was not utterly 
undeserved, as he had been untrue to his vows in some respects, had 
fallen from his state of chastity and yielded to ambition and selfishness. 

Cain or Kayn (Heh,). In Esoteric symbology he is said to be identical 
with Jehovah or the " Lord God " of the fourth chapter of Genesis. It is 
held, moreover, that Abel is not his brother, but his female aspect. 
(See Sec, Doct., sub voce,) 

Calvary Cross. This form of cross does not date from Christianity. 
It was known and used for mystical purposes, thousands of } cars before 
our era. It formed part and parcel of the various Rituals, in Egypt and 
Greece, in Babylon and India, as well as in China, Mexico, and Peru. 
It is a cosmic, as well as a physiological (or phallic) symbol. That 
it existed among all the "heathen" nations is testified to by Tertullian. 
** How doth the Athenian Minerva difier from the body of a cross ? " he 
queries. ** The origin of your gods is derived from figures moulded on a 
cross. All those rows of images on your standards are the appendages 
of crosses ; those hangings on your banners are the robes of crosses.'* 
And the fiery champion was right. The tau or X is the most ancient of 
all forms, and the cross or the tat (q,v,) as ancient. The crux amata, 
the cross with a handle, is in the hands of almost every god, including 
Baal and the Ph(jenician Astarte. The croix cramponnce is the Indian 
Spastica. It has been exhumed from the lowest foundations of 
the ancient site of Troy, and it appears on Etruscan and Chaldean relics 
of antiquity. As Mrs. Jamieson shows : ** The ankh of Egypt was the 
crutch of St. Anthony and the cross of St. Philip. The Labarum of 
Constantine . . . was an emblem long before, in Etruria. Osiris 
had the Labarum for his sign ; Horus appears sometimes with the long 
Latin cross. The Greek pectoral cross is Egyptian. It was called by 



GLOSSARY 73 

the Fathers * the devil's invention before Christ '. The crux ansata is 
upon the old coins of Tarsus, as the Maltese upon the breast of an 
Assyrian king. . . . The cross of Calvary, so common in Europe, 
occurs on the breasts of mummies. ... It was suspended round 
the necks of sacred Serpents in Egypt. . . . Strange Asiatic tribes 
bringing tribute in Egypt are noticed with garments studded with 
crosses, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson dates this picture B.C., 1500." 
P'inally, ** Typhon, the Evil One, is chained by a cross ! " (Eg, Belief aud 
Mod. Thought), 

Campanella, Tomaso. A Calabrese, born in 1568, who, from his 
childhood exhibited strange powers, and gave himself up during his 
whole life to the Occult Arts. The story which shows him initiated in 
liis boyhood into the secrets of alchemy and thoroughly instructed in the 
secret science by a Rabbi- Kabbalist ulu fortnight by means of notaricon, 
is a cock and bull invention. Occult knowledge, even when a heirloom 
from the preceding birth, does not come back into a new personality within 
fifteen days. He became an opponent of the Aristotelian materiahstic 
philosophy when at Naples and was obliged to fly for his life. Later, 
the Inquisition sought to try and condemn him for the practice of magic 
arts, but its efforts were defeated. During his lifetime he wrote an 
enormous quantity of magical, astrological and alchemical works, mcst 
of which are no longer extant. He is reported to have died in the 
convent of the Jacobins at Paris on May the 21st, 1639. 

Canarese. The language of the Karnatic, originally called Kanara, 
one of the divisions of South India. 

Capricomus (Lat,J, The loth sign of the Zodiac (Makdra in Sanskrit), 
considered, on account of its hidden meaning, the most important among 
the constellations of the mysterious Zodiac. It is fully described in the 
Secret Doctrine^ and therefore needs but a few words more. Whether, 
agreeably with exoteric statements, Capricornus was related in any way 
to the wet-nurse Amalthaea who fed Jupiter with her milk, or whether it 
was the god Pan who changed himself into a goat and left his impress 
upon the sidereal records, matters little. Each of the fables has its signifi- 
cance. Everything in Nature is intimately correlated to the rest, and 
therefore the students of ancient lore will not be too much surprised 
when told that even the seven steps taken in the direction of everyone of 
the four points of the compass, or — 28 steps — taken by the new-born 
infant Buddha, are closely related to the 28 stars of the constellation of 
Capricornus. 

Cardan, Jerome, An astrologer, alchemist, kabbalist and mystic, well 
known in literature. He was born at Pavia in 1501, and died at 
Rome in 1576. 



74 rHKOSOPHICAt. 

Carnao. A very ancient site in Brittany (France) of a temple of 
Cyclopean structure, sacred to the Sun and the Dragon ; and of the 
same kind as Karnac, in ancient Egypt, and Stonehenge in England. 
(See the ** Origin of the Satanic Myth" in Archaic Symbolism,) It was 
built by the prehistoric hierophant-priests of the Solar Dragon, or 
symbolized Wisdom (the Solar Kumdras who incarnated being the 
highest). Each of the stones was personally placed there by the suc- 
cessive priest -adepts in power, and commemorated in symbolic language 
the degree of power, status, and knowledge of each. (See further Secret 
Doctrine II. 381, ct seq.j and also ** Karnac".) 

Caste. Originally the system of the four hereditary classes into which 
the Indian population was divided : Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya, and 
Siidra (or descendants of Brahma, Warriors, Merchants, and the lowest 
or Agriculturalists). Besides these original four, hundreds have now 
grown up in India. 

Causal Body. This *' body ", which is no body either objective or 
subjective, but Btiddhi, the Spiritual Soul, is so called because it is the 
direct cause of the Sushupti condition, leading to the Tiirya state, the highest 
state of Samadhi, It is called Kanvwpadhi, '* the basis of the Cause ", by 
the Taraka Raja Yogis ; and in the Vedanta system it corresponds 
to both the Vigndnamaya and Anandamaya Kosha^ the latter coming next 
to Atma, and therefore being the vehicle of the universal Spirit. Buddhi 
alone could not be called a *' Causal Body ", but becomes so in conjunc- 
tion with Manas, the incarnating Entity or Ego. 

Cazotte, Jacques. The wonderful Seer, who predicted the beheading 
of several royal personages and his own decapitation, at a gay supper 
some time before the first Revolution in France. He was born at Dijon in 
1720, and studied mystic philosophy in the school of Martinez Pasqualis at 
Lyons. On the nth of September 1791, he was arrested and condemned 
to death by the president of the revolutionary government, a man who, 
shameful to state, had been his fellow-student and a member of the 
Mystic Lodge of Pasqualis at Lyons. Cazotte was executed on the 
25th of September on the Place du Carrousel. 

Cecco d'Ascoli. Surnamed '' Francesco Stabili." He lived in the 
thirteenth century, and was considered the most famous astrologer in his 
day. A work of his published at Basle in 1485, and called Commentarii 
in Spharam Joannis de Sacrahosco, is still extant. He was burnt alive by 
the Inquisition in 1327. 

Cerberus (Gr,^ Lai,), Cerberus, the three-headed canine monster, 
which was supposed to watch at the tlireshold of Hades, came to the 
Greeks and Romans from Egypt. It was the monster, half-dog and 



GLOSSARY 75 

half-hippopotamus, that guarded the gates of Ainenti. The mother of 
Cerberus was Echidna — a being, half-woman, half-serpent, much 
honoured in Etruria. Both the Egyptian and the Greek Cerberus 
are symbols of Kamaloka and its uncouth monsters, the cast-oft* shells of 
mortals. 

Ceres (Lat.J, In Greek Demeter. As the female aspect of Pater ^Ether, 
Jupiter, she is esoterically the productive principle in the all-pervading 
Spirit that quickens every germ in the material universe. 

Chabrat Zereh Aur Bokher (Heh.j. An Order of the Kosicrucian 
stock, whose members study the Kabbalah and Hermetic sciences; it 
admits both sexes, and has many grades of instruction. The members 
meet in private, and the very existence of the Order is generally 
unknown, [w. w. w.l 

Chad&yatana fSk,). Lit., the six dwellings or gates in man for the 
reception of sensations ; thus, on the physical plane, the eyes, nose, ear, 
tongue, body (or touch) and mind, as a product of the physical brain 
and on the mental plane (esoterically), spiritual sight, smell, hearing, 
taste, touch and perception, the whole synthesized by the Buddhi-atmic 
element. Chadayatana is one of the 12 Niddnas, which form the 
chain of incessant causation and effect. 

Chaitanya (Sk,). The founder of a mystical sect in India. A rather 
modern sage, believed to be an avatar of Krishna. 

Chakna-padma-karpo (Tih.), **He who holds the lotus", used of 
Chenresi, the Bodhisattva. It is not a genuine Tibetan word, but half 
Sanskrit. 

Chakra (Sk,), A wheel, a disk, or the circle of Vishnu generally. 
Used also of a cycle of time, and with other meanings. 

Chakshub (Sk,), The **eye". Loka-chakshub or '* the eye of the 
world " is a title of the Sun. 

Chaldean Book of Numbers. A work which contains all that is found 
in the Zohar of Simeon Ben-Jochai, and much more. It must be the 
older by many centuries, and in one sense its original, as it contains all 
the fundamental principles taught in the Jewish Kabbalistic works, but 
none of their blinds. It is very rare indeed, there being perhaps only two 
or three copies extant, and these in private hands. 

Chaldeans, or Kasdim, At first a tribe, then a caste of learned 
Kabbalists. They were the savants^ the magians of Babylonia, astrologers 
and diviners. The famous Hillel, the precursor of Jesus in philosophy 
and in ethics, was a Chaldean. Franck in his Kahhala points to the close 
resemblance of the ** secret doctrine" found in the A vesta and the reli- 
gious metaphysics of the Chaldees. 



76 YHEOSOPHICAt. 

Chandra (Sk.), The Moon ; also a deity. The terms Chatidra and 
Soma are synonyms. 

Chandragupta (Sk,). The first Buddhist King in India, the grand- 
sire of Asoka ; the Sandracottns of the all-bungling Greek writers who went 
to India in Alexander's time. (See ** Asoka ".) 

Chandra-kanta fSk.j, *' The moon-stone ", a gem that is claimed to 
be formed and developed under the moon-beams, which give it occult 
and magical properties. It has a very cooling influence in fever if applied 
to both temples. 

Chandramanam (Sk.). The method of calculating time by the Moon. 

Chandrayana (Sk.). The lunar year chronology. 

Chandra- Yansa (Skj. The ** Lunar Race", in contradistinction to 
Suryavansa, the ** Solar Race ". Some Orientalists think it an incon- 
sistency that Krishna, a Chandravansa (of the Yadu branch) should have 
been declared an Avatar of Vishnu, who is a manifestation of the solar 
energy in Rig-Veda, a work of unsurpassed authority with the Brahmans. 
This shows, however, the deep occult meaning of the Avatar ; a mean- 
ing which only esoteric philosophy can explain. A glossary is no fit 
place for such explanations ; but it may be useful to remind those who 
know, and teach those who do not, that in Occultism, man is called a 
solar-lunar being, solar in his higher triad, and lunar in his quaternary. 
Moreover, it is the Sun who imparts his light to the Moon, in the same 
way as the human triad sheds its divine light on the mortal shell of 
sinful man. Life celestial (juickens life terrestrial. Krishna stands 
metaphysically for the Ego made one with Atma-Buddhi, and performs 
mystically the same function as the Christos of the Gnostics, l)oth being 
** the inner god in the temple " — man. Lucifer is "the bright morning 
star", a well known symbol in Revelations, and, as a planet, corresponds 
to the Ego. Now Lucifer (or the planet Venus) is the Sukra-Usanas of 
the Hindus ; and Usanas is the Daitya-guru, i.e., the spiritual guide and 
instructor of the Danavas and the Daityas. The latter are the giant- 
demons in the Puranas, and in the esoteric interpretations, the antetypal 
symbol of the man of flesh, physical mankind. The Daityas can raise 
themselves, it is said, through knowledge "austerities and devotion " to 
" the rank of the gods and of the Absolute ". All this is very suggestive 
in the legend of Krishna ; and what is more suggestive still is that just 
as Krishna, the Avatar of a great God in India, is of the race of 
Yadu, so is another incarnation, "God incarnate himself" — or the 
** God-man Christ ", also of the race ladoo — the name for the Jews all 
over Asia. Moreover, as his mother, who is represented as Queen of 
Heaven standing on the crescent, is identified in Gnostic philosophy, and 



GLOSSARY 77 

also in the esoteric system, with the Moon herself, Hkc all the other lunar 
goddesses such as Isis, Diana, Astarte and others — mothers of the Logoi, 
so Christ is called repeatedly in the Roman Catholic Church, the Sun- 
Christ, the Chfist'Soleil and so on. If the later is a metaphor so also is 
the earlier. 

Chanton^ (Tih,), **He of the i,ooo Eyes ", a name of Padmapani or 
Chenresi (Avalokitesvara). 

Chaos (Gr,), The Abyss, the ** Great Deep". It was personified 
in Egypt by the Goddess Neith, anterior to all gods. As Deveria 
says, **the only (jod, without form and sex, who gave birth to itself, 
and without fecundation, is adored under the form of a Virgin Mother". 
She is the vulture-headed Goddess found in the oldest period of Abydos, 
who belongs, accordingly to Mariette Hey, to the first Dynasty, which 
would make her, even on the confession of the time-dwarfing Orientalists, 
about 7,000 years old. As Mr. Bonwick tells us in, his excellent work 
on Egyptian belief — *' Neith, Nut, Nepte, Nuk (her names as variously 
read !) is a philosophical conception worthy of the nineteenth century 
after the Christian era, ratiier than the thirty -ninth before it or earlier 
than that". And he adds: ** Neith or Nout is neitiier more nor less 
than the Great Mother^ and yet the Immaculate Vivf^in, or female Ciod from 
whom all things proceeded". Neith is the '' r\'\tiier-mother " of the 
Stanzas of the Secret Doctrine, the Swahlmvat of the Northern Buddliists, 
the immaculate Mother indeed, the prototype of the latest " \'ir<i;in " of all; 
for, as Sharpe says, *' the Feast of Cantll»imas — in lionour of the god- 
dess Neith — is yet marked in our Almanacs as Candlemas day, or the 
Purification of the Virgin Mary"; and Beauregard tells us of ''the Immacu- 
late Conception of the Virgin, who can henceforth, as well as the Egyptian 
Minerva, the mysterious Neith, boast of having come from herself, and of 
having given birth to God ". He wlio would deny the working of cycles 
and the recurrence of events, let him read what Neith was 7,000 years ago, 
in the conception of the Egyptian Initiates, trying to popularize a philoso- 
phy too abstract for the masses ; and then remember the subjects of dispute 
at the Council of Ephesus in 431, when Mary was declared Mother of God; 
and her Immaculate Conception forced on the World as by command 
of God, by Pope and Council in 1858. Neith is Sicabluivat and also the 
Vedic Aditi and the Puranic Akdsa, for " she is not only the celestial 
vault, or ether, but is made to appear in a tree, from which she gives 
the fruit of the Tree of Life (like another Eve) or pours upon her wor- 
shippers some of the divine water of life ". HenCe she gained the 
favourite appellation of ** Lady of the Sycamore ", an epithet applied to 
another Virgin (Bonwick). The resemblance becomes still more marked 
when Neith is found on old pictures represented as a Mother embracing 



jS rHKOSOPHlCAI. 

the ram-headed god, the ** Lamb ". An ancient stele declares her to be 
** Neut, the luminous, who has engendered the gods " — the Sun included, 
for Aditi is the mother of the Marttanda, the Sun — an Aditya. She is Naus^ 
the celestial ship ; hence we find her on the prow of the Egyptian vessels, 
like Dido on the prow of the ships of the Phoenician mariners, and forth- 
with we have the Virgin Mary, from Mar, the **Sea ", called the ** Virgin 
of the Sea ", and the '' Lad}- Patroness " of all Roman Catholic seamen. 
The Rev. Sayce is quoted by Honwick, explaining her as a principle in 
the Babylonian Balm (Chaos, or confusion) i,e.y " merely the Chaos of 
Genesis . . . and perhaps also M6t, the primitive substance that 
was the mother of all the gods". Nebuchadnezzar seems to have 
been in the mind of the learned professor, since he left the following 
witness in cuneiform language, *' I built a temple to the Great Goddess, 
my Mother ". We may close with the words of Mr. Bonwick with 
which we thoroughly agree : " She (Neith) is the Zeroudna of the 
Avesta, ' time without limits'. She is the Nerfe of the Etruscans, half a 
woman and half a fish " (whence the connection of the Virgin Mary with 
the fish and pisces) ; of whom it is said : *' From holy good Nerfe the 
navigation is happy. She is the Bythos of the Gnostics, the One of the 
Neoplatonists, the AH of German metaphysicians, the Anaita of Assyria." 

Charaka (Sk,), A writer on Medicine who lived in Vedic times. He 
is believed to have been an incarnation (Avatara ) of the Serpent Sesha, 
i,e.y an embodiment of divine Wisdom, since Sesha-Naga, the King of 
the *' Serpent " race, is synonymous with Auatitay the seven-headed 
Serpent, on which X'ishnu sleeps during the pralayas. Ananta is 
the ** endless" and the symbol of eternity, and as such, one with Space, 
while Sesha is only periodical in his manifestations. Hence while 
Vishnu is identified with Ananta, Charaka is onlv the Avatar of Sesha. 
(See ** Ananta " and ** Sesha ".) 

Charnock, Thomas. A great alchemist of the sixteenth century ; a 
surgeon w^ho lived and practiced near Salisbury, studying the art in 
some neighbouring cloisters with a priest. It is said that he was 
initiated into the final secret of transmutation by the famous mystic 
William Bird, who ** had been a prior of Bath and defrayed the expense 
of repairing the Abbey Church from the gold which he made by the red 
and white elixirs" (Royal Mas. Cycl.J. Charncck wrote his Breviary of 
Philosophy in the year 1557 and the Enigma of Alchemy , in 1574. 

Charon (Gr.). The Egyptian Khn-en-ua, the hawk-headed Steersman 
of the boat conveying the Souls across the black waters that separate life 
from death. Charon, the Sun of Erebus and Nox, is a variant of Khu- 
en-ua. The dead were obliged to pay an oboliis, a small piece of money, 
to this grim ferryman of the Styx and Acheron ; therefore the ancients 



GLOSSARY 70 

always placed a coin under the tongue of the deceased. This custom 
has been preserved in our own times, fcr most of the lower classes 
in Russia place coppers in the ccffin under the head of the dead fcr pest 
mortem expenses. 

Ch&FY&ka (Sh.), There were two famous beings of this name. One 
a Rahhasa (demon) who disguised himself as a Brahman and entered 
Hastinl^-pura ; whereupon the Brahmans discovered the imposture and 
reduced Charvaka to ashes with the fire of their eyes. — /.r., m.a gretically 
by means of what is called in Occultism the ** black glance " or evil eye. 
The second was a terrible materialist and denier of all but matter, who if 
he could come back to life, would put to shame all the '• Free thinkers" 
and ** Agnostics " of the day. He lived before the Raniayanic period, 
but his teachings and school have survived to this day, and he has even 
now followers, who are mostly to be foimd in Uengal. 

ChaJStanier, Benedict. A French mason who established in London in 
1767 a Lodge called ** The Illuminated Thcosophists". 

Chatur mukha {Skj, The ** four-faced one", a title of f^rahmn. 
Chatur vama (Sk,), The four castes (///., colours). 

Ch&turdasa Bhuvanam (Sk,). The fourteen lokas or planes of exis- 
tence. Esoterically, the dual seven states. 

Chaturyoni (Sk.j. Written also tchatur-youi. The same as Karmaya 
or *• the four modes of birth " — four ways of entering on the path of birth 
as decided by Karma : (a) birth from the womb, as men and manmialia ; 
(b) birth from an eg\f, as birds and reptiles ; (c) from moisture and air- 
germs, as insects; and (d) by sudden sclf-trau$fovmcitiotu as Bodhisattvas 
and Gods (Anupadaka). 

Chava (Heh,), The same as I^ve : ** the Mother of all that lives '*; 
** Life '\ 

Chavi^y, Jean Aime de, A disciple of the world-famous Nostradanms, 
an astrologer and an alchemist of the sixteenth century. He died in the 
year 1604. His life was a very quiet one and he was almost unknown to 
his contemporaries ; but he left a precious manuscript on the j)re-natal 
and post-natal influence of the stars on certain marked inrlividuals, a 
secret revealed to him by Nostradamus. This treatise was last in the 
possession of the Emperor Alexander of Russia. 

Chela (Sk,), A disciple, the pupil of a Guru or Sag(\ the follower 
of some adept of a school of philosophy (///., child). 
Chemi (Eg,). The ancient name of Egypt. 

Chenresi (Tib,). The Tibetan Avalokitesvara. The Bodhisattva 
Padmapani, a divine Buddha. 



8o THEOSOPHICAL 

Cheru (Scand,), Or Heru. A magic sword, a weapon of the ** sword- 
god " Heru. In the Edda^ the Saga describes it as destroying its 
possessor, should he be unworthy of wielding it. It brings victory and 
fame only in the hand of a virtuous hero. 

Cherubim (Heb.J, According to the Kabbalists, a group of angels, 
which they specially associated with the Sephira Jesod. In Christian 
teaching, an order of angels who are '* watchers ". Genesis places 
Cherubim to guard the lost Eden, and the O.T. frequently refers to them 
as guardians of the divine glory. Two winged representations in gold 
were placed over the Ark of the Covenant ; colossal figures of the same 
were also placed in the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple of Solomon. 
Ezekiel describes them in poetic language, li^ach Cherub appears to 
have been a compound figure with four faces — of a man, eagle, lion, and 
ox, and was certainly winged. Parkhurst, /'// roc. Cherub, suggests that 
the derivation of the word is from K, a particle of similitude, and RB or 
RUB, greatness, master, majesty, and so an image of godhead. Many 
other nations have displayed similar figures as symbols of deity ; e.g,, 
the Egyptians in their figures of Serapis, as Macrobius describes in his 
Saturnalia : the Greeks had their triple-headed Hecate, and the Latins 
had three-faced images of Diana, as Ovid tells us, ecce procul ternis Hecate 
variata figuris. Virgil also describes her in the fourth Book of the y^tteid. 
Porphyry and Eusebius write the same of Proserpine. The Vandals 
had a man v- headed deitv thev called Triijlaf. The ancient German 
races had an idol Rodigast with himian body and heads of the ox, eagle, 
and man. The Persians have some figures of Mithras with a man's 
body, lion's head, and four wings. Add to these the Chimaera, Sphinx 
of Egypt, Moloch, Astarte of the Syrians, and some figures of Isis wath 
Bull's horns and feathers of a bird on the licad. [w. w. \v.] 

Chesed (Heh.J. " Mercy", also named Gedidah, tlie fourth of the ten 
Sephiroth ; a masculine or active potency, ^v. w. w.] 

Chhaya (Sk.), ** Shade" or "Shadow". The name of a creature 
produced by Sanjna, the wife of Surya, from herself (astral body). 
Unable to endure the ardour of her husband, Sanjna left Chhaya in her 
place as a wife, going herself away to perform austerities. Chhaya is 
the astral image of a person in esc^teric pliilosopliy. 

Chhandoga (Sk,), A SamhiU'i collection of Sama Veda ; also a priest, 
a chanter of the Sama Veda. 

Chhanmuka (Sk,). A great Bodhisaitva with the Northern IBuddhists, 
famous for his ardent love of Humanity ; regarded m the esoteric schools 
as a Nirmanakdf'a, 



GLOSSARY 8 I 

Chhanna^arikah (Tib.). Lit,, the school of six cities. A famous 
philosophical school where Chelas are prepared before enterinpj on the 
Path. 

Chhassidi or Chasdim, In the Sept ii agin t Assidai, and in EngHsh 
Assidtans. They are also mentioned in Maccabees I., vii., 13, as being put 
to death with many others. They were the followers of Mattathias, the 
father of the Maccabeans, and were all initiated mystics, or Jewish 
adepts. The word means : '* skilled ; learned in all wisdom, human and 
divine '*. Mackenzie {R.M,C,) regards them as the guardians of the 
Temple for the preservation of its purity ; but as Solomon and his 
Temple are both allegorical and had no real existence, the Temple means 
in this case the ** body of Israel " and its morality. *' Scaliger connects 
this Society of the Assideans with that of the Kssenes, deeming it the 
predecessor of the latter." 

Chhaya loka (Sk.j. The world of Shades ; like Hades, the world of 
the Eidola and Umbra. We call it Ktimaloka, 

Chiah fHeb.). Life; Vita, Revivificatio, In the Kabbala, the second 
highest essence of the human soul, corresponding to Chokmah (Wisdom). 
Chichhakti (Sk.). Chih-Sakti ; the power which generates thought. 

Chidagnikundum (Sk.). Lit., '*the fire-hearth in the heart"; the 
seat of the force which extinguishes all individual desires. 

Chid&kasam (Sk.), The field, or basis ot consciousness. 

ChiflSet, Jean. A Canon-Kabbalist of the XVIIth century, reputed to 
have learned a key to the Gnostic works from Coptic Initiates; he wrote 
a work on Abraxas in two portions, the esoteric portion of which was 
burnt by the Church. 

(jYivaXi (Heb.). A plural noun — "lives"; found in compound names; 
Elohim Chiim, the gods of lives, Parkhurst translates *' the living God " ; 
and Ruach Chiim, Spirit of lives or of life. [w. w. w.J 

China, The Kabbalah of. One of the oldest known Chinese books is 
the Yih King, or Book of Changes. It is reported to have been written 
2850 B.C., in the dialect of the Accadian black races of Mesopotamia. It 
is a most abstruse system of Mental and Moral Philosophy, with a 
scheme of universal relation and divination. Abstract ideas are repre- 
sented by lines, half lines, circle, and points. Thus a circle represents 
YIH, the Great Supreme; a line is referred to YIN, the Masculine 
Active Potency; two half lines are YANG, the Feminine Passive 
Potency. KWEI is the animal soul, SHAN intellect, KHIKN heaven 
or Father, KHWAN earth or Mother, KAN or QHIN is Son ; male 
numbers are odd, represented by light circles, female numbers are even, 
by black circles. There are two most mysterious diagrams, one called ** HO 



82 THEOSOPHICAL 

or the River Map *', and also associated with a Horse ; and the other 
called "The Writinj^ of LO ": these are formed of f^roups of white an<i 
black circles, arranged in a Kabbalistic manner. 

The text is by a King named Wan, and the commentary by Kan, his 
son ; the text is allowed to be older than the time of Confucius, [w. w. w.] 
Chit fSk.). Abstract Consciousness. 

Chitanuth our (HehJ. Chitons, a priestly garb; the ** coats of skin '* 
given by Java Aleim to Adam and Eve after their fall. 

Chitkala (Sk.J. In Esoteric philosophy, identical with the Kumaras, 
those who first incarnated into the men of the Third Root- Race. (See 
Sfc. Doct.\ Vol. I. p. 288 n.) 

Chitra Gupta (Sk,). The deva (or god) who is the recorder of Yima 
(the god of death), and who is supposed to read the account of every 
Soul's life from a register called Af^ra Samihaui, when th:^ said soul 
appears before the seat of Judgment. (Sec '* Agra vSandliani-**.) 

Chitra Sikkandinas rS A', y. The constellation of the great Hear; the 
habitat of the sevtrn Rishis (Sapta-Riksha }. Lit., ** bright-cresled ". 

Chnoumis (Or.), The same as ('hnouphis and Kneph. A symbol of 
creative force ; Chnoumis or Kneph is " the unmade and eternal deity " 
according to Plutarch. He is represented as blue (ether), and with his 
ram's head with an asp between the horns, he might be taken for Ammon 
or Chnouphis (q.v,). The fact is that all these gods are solar, and 
represent under various aspects the phases of generation and impregna- 
tion. Their ram's heads denote this meaning, a ram ever symbolizing 
generative energy in the abstract, while the bull was the symbol of 
strength and the creative function. All were one god, whose attributes 
were individualised and personified. According to Sir G. Wilkinson, 
Kneph or C!hnoumis was ** the idea of the Spirit of God '* ; and Bonwick 
explains that, as Av, ** matter" or '* flesh ", he was criocephalic (ram- 
headed), wearing a solar disk on the head, standing on the Serpent Mehen, 
with a viper in his left and a cross in his right hand, and bent upon the 
function of creation in the underworld (the earth, esoterically). The 
Kabbalists identify him with Dinah, the third Sephira of the Sephirothal 
Tree, or ** Hinah, represented by the Divine name of Jehovah '*. If as 
Chnoumis-Kneph, he represents the Indian Narayana, the Spirit of (iod 
moving on the waters of space, as Eichtou or Ether he holds in his mouth 
an Egg, the symbol of evolution; and as Av he is Siva, the Destro3'er 
and the Regenerator; for, as Deveria explains: "His journey to the 
lower hemispheres appears to symbolize the evolutions of substances, 
which are born to die and to be reborn.'* Esoterically, however, and as 
taught by the Initiates of the inner temple, Chnoumis-Kneph was 



GLOSSARY S3 

pre-eminently the god of reincarnation. Says an inscription : ** I am 
Chnoumis, Son of the Universe, 700 ", a mystery having a direct refer- 
ence to the reincarnating Ego. 

Chnouphis (Gr.), Nouf in Egyptian. Another aspect of Amnion, and 
the personification of his generative power /;/ actu, as Kneph is of the 
same in potentia. He is also ram-headed. If in his aspect as Kneph he 
is the Holy Spirit with the creative ideation brooding in him, as 
Chnouphis, he is the angel who ** comes in " into the Virgin soil and flesh. 
A prayer on a papyrus, translated by the French Egyptologist Chabas, 
says ; ** O Sepui, Cause of being, who hast formed thine own body ! O 
only Lord, proceeding from Xoum ! O divine substance, created from 
itself! O God, who hast made the substance which is in him ! O God, 
who has made his own father and impregnated his own mother." This 
shows the origin of the Cliristian doctrines of the Trinity and immacu- 
late conception. He is seen on a monument seated near a potter's 
wheel, and forming men out of clay. The fig-leaf is sacred to him, which 
is alone sufficient to prove him a phallic god — an idea which is carried 
out by the inscription: **hc who made that which is, the creator of 
beings, the first existing, he who made to exist all that exists." Some 
see in him the incarnation of Amnion -Ra, but he is the latter himself in 
his phallic aspect, for, like Ammon, he is ** his mother's husband", i.e., 
the male or impregnating side of Nature. His names vary, as Cnouphis, 
Noum, Khem, and Khnum or Chnoumis. As he represents the Demiurgos 
(or Logos) from the material, lower aspect of the Soul of the World, he is 
the Agathodaenion, symbolized sometimes by a Serpent ; and his wife 
Athor or Maut (Mot mother), or Sate, *' the daughter of the Sun "', carrying 
an arrow on a sunbeam (the ray of conception), stretch(?s " mistress over 
the lower portions of the atmosphere ", below the constellations, as Neith 
expands over the starry heavens. (See ** Chaos".) 

Chohaxi (Tib,). '*Lord" or *' Master"; a chief; thus Dhyan-Chohan 
would answer to *' Chief of the Dhyanis", or celestial Lights — which 
in English w^ould be translated Archangels. 

Chokmah (Heb.). Wisdom : the second of the ten Sephiroth, and the 
second of the supernal Triad. A masculine potency corresponding to 
the Yod (i) of the Tetragrammaton IHVH, and to Ab, the Father. 
[w.w.w.J 

Chrestos (Gr.). The early Gnostic form of Christ. It was used in 
the fifth century b.c. by ^T^schylus, Iltfrodotus, and others. The Manteu- 
mata pythochresta, or the ''oracles delivered by a Pythian god " through 
a pythoness, are mentioned by the former (Chocph. 901). Chnsfcrion is not 
only *' the seat of an ( rack' ", but an oficring to, or lor, the oracle. 



84 THROSOPHICAL 

Chrhtcs is one who explains oracles, " a prophet and soothsayer ", and 
Chrcsterios one who serves an oracle or a god. The earliest Christian 
w-riter, Justin Martyr, in his first Apolo^ry^ calls his co-relip^onists Chres- 
tians, ** It is only through ignorance that men call tho^-ir^lves Christians 
instead of Chrcstians^'^ says Lactantius (lib. iv., cap. vii.). The terms 
Christ and Christians, spelt originally Christ and Chrcstfans, were bor- 
rowed from the Temple vocabulary of the Pagans. Chresfos meant in 
that vocabulary a disciple on probation, a candidate for hierophantship. 
When he had attained to this through initiation, long trials, and suffer- 
ing, and had been '' anointed '^ (ij., ** rubbed with oil ", as were Initiates 
and even idols of the gods, as the last touch of ritualistic observance), 
his name was changed into Christos, the ** purified ", in esoteric or 
mystery language. In mystic symbology, indeed, Christes, or Christos, 
meant that the *' Way ", the Path, was already trodden and the goal 
reached ; when the fruits of the arduous labour, uniting the personality of 
evanescent clay with the indestructible Individuality, transformed it 
thereby into the immortal Ego. ** At the end of the Way stands the 
Chrcstes ", the Pitrifiir, and the union once accomplished, the Chrestos, 
the ** man of sorrow^", became Christos himself. Paul, the Initiate, 
knew this, and meant this precisely, when he is made to say, in bad 
translation : '* 1 travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you " 
(Gal. iv. 19), the true rendering of which is . . . ** until ye form 
the Christos within yourselves". But the profane w^ho knew only that 
Chrcstes was in some way connected with priest and prophet, and knew 
nothing about the hidden meaning of Christos, insisted, as did Lactan- 
tius and Justin Martyr, on being called Chrcstians instead of Christians. 
Every good individual, therefore, may find Christ in his ** inner man " as 
Paul expresses it (Ephes. iii. 16, 17), whether he be Jew, Mussulman, 
Hindu, or Christian. Kenneth Mackenzie seemed to think that the 
word Chrestos was a synonym of Soter, " an appellation assigned to deities, 
great kings and heroes," indicating ** Saviour," — and he was right. For, 
as he adds: ** It has been applied redundantly to Jesus Christ, whose 
name Jesus or Joshua bears the same interpretation. The name Jesus, 
in fact, is rather a title of honour than a name — the true name of the 
Soter of Christianity being Emmanuel, or God with us {Matt, i., 23.). . . 
Great divinities among all nations, who are represented as expiatory or 
self-sacrificing, have been designated by the same title." (R, M, Cyclop,) 
The Asklepios (or .l£sculapius) of the Greeks had the title of Sotfr. 

Christian Scientist. A newly-coined term for denoting the practi- 
tioners of an art of healing by ivill. The name is a misnomer, since 
Buddhist or Jew, Hindu or Materialist, can practise this new form of 



GLOSSARY H5 

Western Yoga, with like success, if he can only ^uide and control his 
will with sufficient firmness. The *' Mental Scientists" are another 
rival school. These work by a universal denial of every disease and 
evil imaginable, and claim syllogistically that since Universal Spirit 
cannot be subject to the ailings of flesh, and since every atom is Spirit 
and in Spirit, and since finally, they — the healers and the healed — are all 
absorbed in this Spirit or Deity, there is not, nor can there be, such a thing 
as disease. This prevents in no wise both Christian and Mental 
Scientists from succumbing to disease, and nursing chronic diseases in 
their own bodies just like ordinary mortals. 

Chthonia (Gr.), Chaotic earth in the Hellenic cosmogony. 

Chuang. A great Chinese philosopher. 

Chubiljan (Mongol,), Or Khuhilkhan, The same as Chutuktti. 

Chutuktu (Tib,), An incarnation of Ikiddha or of some Hodhisattva, 
as believed in Tibet, where there are generally f{\e manifesting and tWo 
secret Chutuktus among the high Lamas. 

Chyuta (Sk,), Means, ** the fallen " into generation, as a Kabbalist 
would say ; the opposite of achyuta, something which is not subject to 
change or differentiation ; said of deity. 

Circle. There are several ** Circles " with mystic adjectives attached 
to them. Thus we have: (i) the ** Decussated or Perfect Circle" 
of Plato, who shows it decussated in the form of the letter X ; (2) the 
** Circle-dance " of the Amazons, around a Priapic image, the same as 
the dance of the Gopis around the Sun (Krishna), the shepherdesses repre- 
senting the signs of the Zodiac ; (3) the ** Circle of Necessity" of 3,000 
years of the Egyptians and of the Occultists, the duration of the cycle 
between rebirths or reincarnations being from 1,000 to 3,000 years on 
the average. This will be treated under the term ** Rebirth " or 
** Reincarnation ". 

Clairaudience. The faculty, whether innate or acquired by occult 
training, of hearing all that is said at whatever distance. 

Clairvoyance. The faculty of seeing with the inner eye or spiritual 
sight. As now used it is a loose and flippant term, embracing under its 
meaning a happy guess due to natural shrewdness or intuition, and 
also that faculty which was so remarkably exercised by Jacob Boehme 
and Swedenborg. Real clairvoyance means the faculty of seeing through 
the densest matter (the latter disappearing at the will and before the 
spiritual eye of the Seer), and irrespective of time (past, present and 
future) or distance. 

Clemeiis Alexandrinus. A Church Father and a voluminous writer, 
who had been a Neo-Platonist and a disciple of Anuuonius Saccas. He 



86 THEOSOPHICAL 

lived l)et\veeii the second and the third centuries of our era, at 
Alexandria. 

Cook. A very occult bird, much appreciated in ancient augury and 
symbolism. According to the Zohar, the cock crows three times before 
the death of a person ; and in Russia and all Slavonian countries 
whenever a person is ill on the premises where a cock is kept, its 
crowing is held to be a sign of inevitable death, unless the bird crows 
at the hour of midnight, or immediately afterwards, when its crowing 
is considered natural. As the cock was sacred to ^Esculapius, and as 
the latter was called the Soier (Saviour) who raised the dead to life, the 
Socratic exclamation ** We owe a cock to ^^sculapius '*, just before the 
Sage's death, is very suggestive. As the cock was always connected in 
symbology with the Sun (or solar gods), Death and Resurrection, it has 
found its appropriate place in the four Gospels in the prophecy about 
Peter repudiating his Master before the cock crow-ed thrice. The cock 
is the most magnetic and sensitive of all birds, hence its Greek name 
aUctrtwn, 

Codex Nazarseus (Lat.J. The **Book of Adam" — the latter name 
meaning anthropos, Man or Humanity. The Nazarene faith is called 
sometimes the Bardesanian system, though Bardesanes (b.c. 155 to 228) 
does not seem to have had any connection with it. True, he was born 
at Edessa in Syria, and was a famous astrologer and Sabian before his 
alleged conversion. But he was a well-educated man of noble family, 
and would not have used the almost incomprehensible Chaldeo-Syriac 
dialect mixed with the mystery language of the Gnostics, in which the 
Codex is written. The sect of the Nazarenes was pre-Christian. Pliny 
and Josephus speak of the Nazarites as settled on the banks of the 
Jordan 150 years B.C. (Ant. Jiid, xiii. p. 9) ; and Munk says that the 
** Naziareate was an institution established before the laws of Musah " 
or Moses. (Munk p. 169.) Their modern name is in Arabic — 
El Mogtasila; in European languages — the Mendaeans or "Christians of 
St. John ". (See ** Baptism ".) But if the term Baptists may well be 
applied to them, it is not with the Christian meaning : for while they 
were, and still are Sabians, or pure astrolaters, the Mendaeans of Syria, 
called the Galileans, arc pure polytlieists, as every traveller in Syria and 
on the Euphrates can ascertain, once he acquaints himself with their 
mysterious rites and ceremonies. (See I sis Unv. ii. 290, ct scq.) So 
secretly did they preserve their beliefs from the very beginning, that 
Epiphanius who wrote against the Heresies in the 14th century 
confesses himself unable to say what they believed in (i. 122); he 
simply states that they never mention the name of Jesus, nor do they 
call themselves Christians (loc, cit, 190). Yet it is undeniable that 



GLOSSARY ^7 

sonic of tlu* alleged philosophical views and doctrines of Hardesanes 
are found in the codex of the Nazarenes. (See Norberg's Codfx Nazantus^ 
or the ** Book of Adam '*, and also ** Mendaeans ".) 

CoeuF, Jacques. A famous Treasurer of France, born in 1408, who 
obtained the office by black magic. He was reputed as a great alchemist 
and his wealth became fabulous ; but he was soon banished from the 
country, and retiring to the Island of Cyprus, died there in 1460, leaving 
behind enormous wealth, endless legends and a bad reputation. 

Cof9n-Rit6, or Pastos. This was the final rite of Initiation in the 
Mysteries in Egypt, Greece and elsewhere. The last and supreme 
secrets of Occultism could not be revealed to the Disciple until he had 
passed through this allegorical ceremony of Death and Resurrection into 
new light. ** The Greek verb tdeutad,''' says Wonsky, ** signifies in the 
active voice * I die ', and in the middle voice * I am initiated ' ''. Stoba^us 
quotes an ancient author, who says, '* The mind is affected in death, just 
as it is in the initiation into the Mysteries ; and word answers to word, 
as well as thing to thing ; for teleutan is * to die ', and teleisthai * to be 
initiated'". And thus, as Mackenzie corroborates, when the Aspirant 
was placed in the Pastos^ Bed, or Coffin (in India on the lathe, as explained 
in the Secret Doctrine), '*he was symbolically said to die". 

CoUanjes, Gabriel dc. Born in 1524. The best astrologer in the 
With century and a still better Kabbalist. He spent a fortune in the 
unravelling of its mysteries. It was rumcnired that he died through 
poison administered to him by a Jewish Kabbin- Kabbalist. 

College of Rabbis. A college at Babylon ; most famous during the 
early centuries of (Christianity. Its glory, howe\er, was greatly 
darkened by the appearance in Alexandria of llellenie teachers, such 
as Philo Judaeus. Josephus, Aristobulus and others. The former 
avenged themselves on their successful rivals by speaking of the 
Alexandrians as theurgists and unclean prophets. But the Alexandrian 
believers in thaumaturgy were not regarded as sinners or impostors 
when orthodox Jews were at the heatl of such schools of *' hazim ". These 
were colleges for teaching prophecy and occult sciences. Samuel was 
the chief of such a college at Kamah ; Elisha at Jericho, llillel had a 
regular academy for prophets and seers ; and it is Hillel, a pupil of the 
Babylonian College, who was the founder of tlie Sect of the Pharisees 
and the great orthodox Rabbis. 

CoUemann, Jean, An Alsatian, born at Orleans, according to K. 
Mackenzie ; other accounts say he was a Jew, who found favour owing to 
his astrological studies, with both Charles \TI. and Louis XL, and that 
he had a bad iniluencc on the latter. 



S8 THEOSOPHiCAl. 

Collyridians. A sect of Gnostics who, in the early centuries of 
Christianity, transferred their worship and reverence from Astoreth to 
Mary, as Queen of Heaven and Virgin. Regarding the two as identical, 
thev offered to the latter as thev had done to the former, buns and cakes 
on certain days, with sexual symbols represented on them. 

Continents. In the Buddhist cosmogony, according to Gautama 
Buddha's exoteric doctrine, there are numberless systems of worlds (or 
Sakxvald) all of which are born, mature, decay, and are destroyed 
periodically. Orientalists translate the teaching about ** the four great 
continents which do not communicate with each other ", as meaning 
that ** upon the earth there are four great continents" (see Hardy's 
Eastern Monachism^ p. 4), while the doctrine means simply that around 
or above the earth there are on either side four worlds, /.^., the earth 
appearing as the fourth on each side of the arc. 

Corybantes, Mysteries of the. These were held in Phrygia in honour of 
Atys, the youth beloved by Cybele. The rites were very elaborate 
within the temple and very noisy and tragic in public. They began by 
a public bewailing of the death of Atys and ended in tremendous rejoicing 
at his resurrection. The statue or image of the victim of Jupiter's jealousy 
was placed during the ceremony in a pastos (coffin), and the priests sang 
his sufferings. Atys, as Visvakarma in India, was a representative of 
Initiation and Adeptship. He is shown as being born impotent, because 
chastity is a recjuisite of the life of an aspirant. Atys is said to have 
established the rites and worship of Cybele, in I.ydia. (See Pausan,, 
vii., c. 17.) 

Cosmic Gods. Inferior gods, those connected with the formation of 
matter. 

Cosmic ideation (Occult.). Eternal thought, impressed on substance 
or spirit-matter, in the eternity; thouglit which becomes active at the 
beginning of every new life-cycle. 

Cosmocratores (Gr.J. ** Builders of the Universe", the ** world 
architects ", or the Creative Forces personified. 

Cow-worship. The idea of any such *' worship "is as erroneous as 
it is unjust. No Egyptian worshipped the coi<', nor does any 
Hindu worship this animal now, though it is true that the cow and bull 
were sacred then as they arc to-day, but only as the natural physical 
symbol of a metaphysical ideal ; even as a church made of bricks and 
mortar is sacred to the civilized Chrib:tian because of its associations and 
not by reason of its walls. The cow was sacred to Isis, the Universal 
Mother, Nature, and to the Hathor, the female principle in Nature, the two 
goddesses being allied to both sun and moon, as the disk and the cow's 



GLOSSARY 8g 

horns (crescent) prove. (See ** Hathor " and **Isis".) In the Vedas, 
the Dawn of Creation is represented by a cow. This dawn is Hathor, 
and the day which follows, or Nature already formed, is Isis, for both 
are one except in the matter of time. Hathor the elder is " the 
mistress of the seven mystical cows " and Isis, '*the Divine Mother", 
is the ** cow-horned ", tJif cou? of plenty (or Nature, Earth), and, as the 
mother of Horus (the physical world) — the ** mother of all that lives ". 
The ottM was the symbolic eye of Horus, the right being the sun, and the 
left the moon. The right **eye" of Horus was called ** the cow of 
Hathor ", and served as a powerful anmlet, as the dove in a nest of rays 
or glory, with or without the cross, is a talisman with Christians, Latins 
and Greeks. The Bull and the Lion which we often find in company 
with Luke and Mark in the frontispiece of their respective Gospels in 
the Greek and Latin texts, are explained as symbols -which is indeed 
the fact. Why not admit the same in the case of the Egyptian sacred 
Bulls, Cows, Rams, and Birds ? 

Cremer, John. An eminent scholar who for over thirty years studied 
Hermetic philosophy in pursuance of its practical secrets, while he was 
at the same time Abbot of Westminster. While on a voyage to Italy, he 
met the famous Raymond Lully whom he induced to return with him to 
England. Lully divulged to Cremer the secrets of the stone, for which 
service the monastery offered daily prayers for him. Cremer, says the 
Royal Masonic Cyclopedia , ** having obtained a profound knowledge of the 
secrets of Alchemy, because a most celebrated and learned adept in occult 
philosophy . . . lived to a good old age, and died in the reign of 
King Edward HL" 

Crescent. Sin was the Assyrian name for the moon, and Sin-ai the 
Mount, the birth-place of Osiris, of Dionysos, Bacchus and several 
other gods. According to Rawlinson, the moon was held in higher 
esteem than the sun at Babylon, l)ecause darkness preceded light. The 
crescent was, therefore, a sacred symbol with almost every nation, 
before it became the standard of the Turks. Says the author of 

Egyptian Belief y ** The crescent is not essentially 

a Mahometan ensign. On the contrary, it was a Christian one, derived 
through Asia from the Babylonian Astarte, Queen of Heaven, or from 
the Egyptian Isis .... whose emblem was the crescent. The 
Greek Christian Empire of Constantinople held it as their palladium. 
Upon the conquest of the Turks, the Mahometan Sultan adopted it for 
the symbol of his power. Since that time the crescent has been made 
to oppose the idea of the cross." 

Criocephale (Gr.J. Ram-headed, applied to several deities and 
emblematic figures, notably those of ancient Egypt, which were designed 



go THHOSOPHlCAt. 

about the period when the Sun passed, at the Vernal Equinox, from the sign 
Taurus to the sign Aries. Previously to this pertod, bull-headed and 
horned deities prevailed. Apis was the type of the Bull deity, Animon 
that of the ram -headed type : I sis, too, had a Cow's head allotted to her. 
Porphyry writes that the Greeks united the Ram to Jupiter and the Bull 
to Bacchus, [w.w.w.] 

Crocodile. ** The great reptile of Typhon." The seat of its 
** worship " was Crocodilopolis and it was sacred to Set and Sebak — its 
alleged creators. The primitive Rishis in India, the Maum^ and Sons of 
Brahmti, are each the progenitors of some animal species, of which he is 
the alleged *' father " ; in Egypt, each god was credited with the forma- 
tion or creation of certain animals wliich were sacred to him. Crocodiles 
must have been numerous in Egypt during the early dynasties, if one 
has to judge by the almost incalculable number of their mummies. 
Thousands upon thousands have been excavated from the grottoes of 
Moabdeh, and many a vast necropolis of that Typhonic animal is still left 
untouched. But the Crocodile was only worshipped where his god 
and ** father " received honours. Typhon (q.v,) had once received such 
honours and, as Bunsen shows, had been considered a great god. His 
w^ords are, " Down to the time of Ramses B.C. 1300, Typhon was one of 
the most venerated and powerful gods, a god who pours blessings and 
life on the rulers of Egypt." As explained elsewhere, Typhon is the 
material aspect of Osiris. When Typhon, the Quaternary, hills Osiris, 
the triad or divine Light, and cuts it metaphorically into 14 pieces, and 
separates himself from the '' god ", he incurs the execration of the 
masses ; he becomes the evil god, the storm and hurricane god, the 
burning sand of the Desert, the constant enemy of the Nile, and the 
** slayer of the evening beneficent dew", because Osiris is the ideal 
Universe, Siva the great Regenerative Force, and Typhon the material 
portion of it, the (^vil side of the god, or the Destroying Siva. This is why 
the crocodile is also partly venerated and partly execrated. The appear- 
ance of the crocodile in the Desert, far from the water, prognosticated the 
happy event of the coming inundation — hence its adoration at Thebes 
and Ombos. But he destroyed thousands of human and animal beings 
yearly — hence also the hatred and persecution of the Crocodile at 
Elephantine and Tentyra. 

Cross. Mariette Bey has shown its antiquity in Egypt by proving 
that in all the primitive sepulchres ** the plan of the chamber has the 
form of a cross'. It is the symbol of the Brotherhood of races and men ; 
and was laid on the breast of the corpses in Egypt, as it is now placed 
on the corpses of deceased Christians, and, in its Swastica form (croix 



GI-OSSARN 91 

cramponneejf on the hearts of the Buddhisl adepts and Duildhas. (See 
** Calvary Cross ".) 

Crux Ansata (Lat,), The handled cross, T J whereas the tau is T, in 
this form, and the oldest Egyptian cross or the iai is thus -f. The crux 
ansata was the symbol of immortality, but the tai-cvoss was that of 
spirit-matter and had the significance of a sexual emblem. The 
crux ansata was the foremost symbol in the Egyptian Masonry instituted 
by Count Cagliostro : and Masons must have indeed forgotten the 
primitive significance of their highest symbols, if some of their authori- 
ties still insist that the crux ansata is only a combination of the cteis (or 
yoni) and phallus (or lingham). Far from this. The liandle or ansa 
had a double significance, but never a phallic one ; as an attribute of 
Isis it was the mundane circle ; as a symbol of law on the breast of a 
mummy it was that of immortality, of an endless and beginningless 
eternity, that which descends upon and grows out of the plane of 
material nature, the horizontal feminine line, surmounting the vertical 
male line — the fructifying male principle in nature or spirit. Without 
the handle the crux ansata became the tau T, which, left by itself, is an 
androgyne symbol, and becomes purely phallic or sexual only when it 
takes the shape -f- • 

CvYpt (Gr.). A secret subterranean vault, some for the purpose of 
initiation, others for burial purposes. There were crypts under every 
temple in antiquity. There was one on the Mount of Olives, lined with 
red stucco, and built before the advent of the Jews. 

Curetes. The Priest- Initiates of ancient Crete, in the service of 
Cybele. Initiation in their temples was very severe ; it lasted twenty-seven 
days, during which time the aspirant was left by himself in a crypt, 
undergoing terrible trials. Pythagoras was initiated into these rites and 
came out victorious. 

Cutha. An ancient city in Babylonia after which a tablet giving an 
account of ** creation" is named. Tlie "Cutha tablet ' speaks of a 
** temple of Sittam ", in tiie sanctuary of Nergal, tiie '* giant king of 
war, lord of the city of Cutha ", and is purely esoteric. It has to be read 
symbolically, if at all. 

Cycle. From the Greek kuklos. The ancients divided time into end- 
less cycles, wheels within wheels, all such periods being of various 
durations, and each marking the beginning or the end of some event 
either cosmic, mundane, physical or metaphysical. There were cycles 
of only a few years, and cycles of immense duration, the great Orphic 
cycle, referring to the ethnological change of races, lasting 120,000 years, 
and the cycle of Cassandrus of 136,000, which brought about a complete 



92 theosophicaL 

rhaiif^e in planetary influences and their correlations between men and 
gods — a fact entirely lost sight of by modern astrologers. 

Cynocephalus (Gr,), The Egyptian Hapi. There was a notable 
difference between the ape-headed gods and the ** Cynocephalus" (Simia 
hamadryas), a dog-headed baboon from upper Egypt. The latter, whose 
sacred city was Hermopolis, was sacred to the lunar deities and Thoth- 
Hcrmes, hence an emblem of secret wisdom — as was Hanuman, the 
monkey-god of India, and later, the elephant-headed Ganesha. The 
mission of the Cynocephalus was to show the way for the Dead to 
the Seat of Judgment and Osiris, whereas the ape-gods were all phallic. 
They are almost invariably found in a crouching posture, holding on one 
hand the otita (the eye of Horus), and in the other the sexual cross. Isis 
is seen sometimes riding on an aj>e, to designate the fall cf divine nature 
into generation. 



GLOSSARY 



D. 

D. — Both in the English and Hebrew alphabets the fourth letter, 
whose numerical value is four. The symbolical signification in 
the Kahhalaoi the Dale th is **door". It is the Oreek delta X through 
which the world (whose symbol is the tetrad or number four,) issued, 
producing the divine seven. The name of the Tetrad was Harmony 
with the Pythagoreans, " because it is a diatessaron in sesquitertia ". 
With the Kabbalists, the divine name associated with Daleth was 
Daghoitl, 

Daath (Heb.j, Knowledge ; ** the conjunction of Chokmah and 
Binah, Wisdom and Understanding : sometimes, in error, called a 
Sephira. [w.w.w.j 

Dabar (Heb.J, D fa) B (a) R fhn), meaning the ** Word", and the 
** Words '* in the Chaldean Kabbala, Dabar and Logoi. (See Sec, 
Doct. I. p. 350, and ** Logos ", or " Word ".) 

Dabistan (Pers,). The land of Iran ; ancient Persia. 

Daohe-Daohus (Chald,), The dual emanation of Moymis, the 
progeny of the dual or androgynous World- Principle, the male Apason 
and female Tauthe. Like all theocratic nations possessing Temple 
mysteries, the Babylonians never mentioned the ** One " Principle of 
the Universe, nor did they give it a name. This made Damascius 
(Theogonies) remark that like the rest of '* barbarians " the Babylonians 
passed it over in silence. Tauthe was the mother of the gods, while 
Apason was her self-generating male power, Moymis, the itieal universe, 
being her only-begotten son, and emanating in his turn Dache-Dachus, 
and at last Behis, the Demiurge of the objective Universe. 

Daotyli (Gr.). From daktulos, ** a finger". The name given to the 
Phrygian Hierophants of Kybele, who were regarded as the greatest 
magicians and exorcists. They were fiwtt or ten in number because of 
the ^ve fingers on one hand that blessed, and the ten on both hands 
which evoke the gods. They also healed by manipulation or mesmerism. 

Dadouohos (Gr,), The torch -bearer, one of the four celebrants in the 
Eleusinian mysteries. There were several attached to the temples 
but they appeared in public only at the Panathenaic Games at Athens, 
to preside over the so-called ** torch-race ". (See Magken2;ie's R,M, 
Cyclopadia,) 



04 THEOSOPHICAL 

Daemon fGr.j, In the original Hermetic works and ancient classics 
it has a meaninf:^ identical with that of **god'\ "angel" or ** genius*'. 
The Daemon of Socrates is the incorruptible part of the man, or rather 
the real inner man which wc call Nous or the rational divine Ego. At all 
events the Daemon (or Daimon) of the great Sage was surely not the 
demon of the Christian Hell or of Christian orthodox theology. The 
name was given by ancient peoples, and especially the philosophers 
of the x\lexandrian school, to all kinds of spirits, whether good or bad, 
human or otherwise. The appellation is often synonymous with that 
of gods or angels. But some philosophers tried, with good reason, to 
make a just distinction between the many classes. 

Daenam (Pahlavi), Lit., " Knowledge", the principle of understanding 
in man, rational Soul, or Manas, according to the A vesta, 

Da^, Da^on (Heh,). " Fish " and also ** Messiah ". Dagon was the 
Chaldean inan-fish Oannes, the mysterious being who arose daily out of 
the depths of the sea to teach people every useful science. He was also 
called Annedotus. 

D&goba (^5^. j, or Stnpa, Lit : a sacred mound or tower for Buddhist 
holy relics. These are pyramidal -looking mounds scattered all 
over India and Buddhist countries, such as Ceylon, Burmah, Central 
Asia, etc. They are of various sizes, and generally contain some small 
relics of Saints or those claimed to have belonged to Gautama, the Buddha. 
As the human body is supposed to consist of 84,000 dhdtus (organic ceils 
with definite vital functions in them), Asoka is said for this reason to 
have built 84,000 dhatu-gopas or Dagobas in honour of every cell of 
the Buddha's body, each of which has now become a dhdrmadhdtu or 
holy relic. There is in Ceylon a Dhatu-gopa at Anuradhapura, said to 
date from 160 years li.c. They are now built pyramid-like, but the 
primitive Dagobas were all shaped like towers with a cupola and several 
ichhatra (umbrellas) over them. Eitel states that the Chinese Dagobas 
have all from 7 to 14 tchhatras over them, a number which is symbolical 
of the human body. 

Daitya Guru (Sk.), The instructor of the giants, called Daityas 
(q,v,) Allegorically, it is the title given to the planet Venus- Lucifer, or 
rather to its indwelling Ruler, Sukra, a male deity (See Sec, Doct. ii. p. 30). 

Daityas (Sk.j. Giants, Titans, and exotcrically demons, but in truth 
identical with certain Asuras, the intellectual gods, the opponents of 
the useless gods of rituaHsm and the enemies o£ puja, sacrifices. 

Daivi-prakriti (Sk,J, Primordial, homogeneous light, called by some 
Indian Occultists '* the Light of the Log( s " (see Notes on the Bhagavat 
Gita, by T. Subba Row, B.A., L.L.B.) ; when differentiated this 
light becomes Fohat, 



GLOSSARY 95 

D&kini (Skj, Female demons, vampires and blood-drinkers (^5;y7-/^s). 
In the Punin<is they attend upon the goddess Kali and feed on human 
flesh. A species of evil ** Elementals " (q,v,), 

Daksha (Sk.), A form of Brahma, and his son in the Puranas. But 
the Rtg Veda states that ** Daksha sprang from Aditi, and Aditi from 
Daksha '\ which proves him to be a personified correlating Creative Force 
acting on all the planes. The Orientalists seem, very much perplexed 
what to make of him ; but Roth is nearer the truth than any, when 
saying that Daksha is the spiritual power, and at the same time the 
male energy that generates the gods in eternity, which is represented 
by Aditi. The Puranas, as a matter of course, anthropomorphize the 
idea, and show Daksha instituting '* sexual intercourse on this earth ", 
after trying every other means of procreation. The generative P'orce, 
spiritual at the commencement, becomes of course at the most material 
end of its evolution a procreative Force on the physical plane ; and so 
far the Puninic allegory is correct, as the Secret Science teaclies that 
our present mode of procreation began towards the end of the third 
Root-Race. 

Dalada (Sk.J. A very precious relic of Gautama the Buddha ; viz,, 
his supposed left canine tooth preserved at the great temple at Kandy, 
Ceylon. Unfortunately, the relic shown is not genuine. The latter has 
been securely secreted for several hundred years, ever since the shameful 
and bigoted attempt by the Portuguese (the then ruling power in Ceylon) 
to steal and make away with the real relic. That which is shown in the 
place of the real thing is the monstrous tooth of some animal. 

Dama (Sk.j, Restraint of the senses. 

Dambolla (Sk,j, The name of a huge rock in Ceylon. It is about 
4CX) feet above the level of the sea. Its upper portion is excavated, 
and several large cave-temples, or Vihnras, are cut out of the solid rock, 
all of these being of pre-Christian date. They are considered as the best- 
preserved antiquities in the island. The North side of the rock is vertical 
and quite inaccessible, but on the South side, about 150 feet from its 
summit, its huge overhanging granite mass has been fashioned into a 
platform with a row of large cave-temples excavated in the surrounding 
walls — evidently at an enormous sacrifice of labour and money. Two 
Viharas may be mentioned out of the many : the Malm Riija ViJidra, 
172 ft. in length and 75 in breadth, in which there are upwards of fifty 
figures of Buddha, most of them larger than life and all formed from the 
solid rock. A well has been dug out at the foot of the central Dagoba, 
and from a fissure in the rock there constantly drips into it beautiful 
clear water which is kept for sacred purposes. In the other, the Maha 



96 THFOSOPHICAL 

Deu'iyo Vihdra, tliere is to be seen a gip^antic figure of the dead Gautama 
l^uddha, 47 feet lon^, reclining on a couch and pillow cut out of solid 
rock like the rest. ** This long, narrow and dark temple, the position 
and placid aspect of Buddha, together with the stillness of the place, 
tend to impress the beholder with the idea that he is in the chamber of 
death. The priest asserts .... that such was Buddha, and such 
were those (at his feet stands an attendant) who witnessed the last 
moments of his mortality " (Hardy's is^s/. Monachism). The view from 
Dambulla is magnificent. On the large rock platform which seems to 
be now more visited bv verv intelligent tame white monkeys than bv 
monks, there stands a huge Bo-Tree, one of the numerous scions from 
the original Bo-Tree under which the Lord Siddhartha reached Nirvana. 
'* About 50 ft. from the summit there is a pond which, as the priests 
assert, is never without water." (The Ceylon Almanac^ 1H34.) 

Dammapadan (Pali,), A J:Juddliist work containing moral precepts. 

Dana r.S^./ Almsgiving to mendicants; ///., ** charity", the first of 
the six Paramitas in Buddhism. 

Danavas (Sk,), Almost the same as Daiiyas: giants and demons, the 
opponents of the ritualistic gods. 

Dan^ma (Sk.), In Esotericism a purified Soul. A Seer and an 
Initiate; one who has attained full wisdom. 

Daos (Chald.). The seventh King (Shepherd) of the divine Dynasty, 
who reigned over the Babylonians for the space of ten sari, or 36,000 
years, a saros being of 3,600 years' duration. In his time four Annedoti, 
or Men-fishes (Dagons) made their appearance. 

Darasta (Sk.), Ceremonial magic practised by the central Indian 
tribes, especially among the Kolarians. 

Dardanus (Gr.), The Son of Jupiter and Electra, who received 
the Kabeiri gods as a dowry, and took them to Samothrace, where they 
were worshipped long before the hero laid the foundations of Troy, and 
before Tyre and Sidon were ever heard of, though Tyre was built 2,760 
years b.c. (See for fuller details ** Kabiri ".) 

Darha (Sk,), The ancestral spirits of the Kolarians. 

Darsanas (Sk,). T!je Schools of Indian philosophy, of which there 
are six ; Shad -darsanas or six demonstrations. 

Dasa-sil (Pali,), The ten obligations or commandments taken by and 
binding upon the priests of Buddha ; the five obligations or Pansil 
are taken by laymen. 

Dava (Tib,), The moon, in Tibetan astrology. 

Davkina (Chald,), The wife of Hea, "the goddess of the lower regions, 



GLOSSARY 97 

the consort of the Peep '\ tht^ mother of Merodach, the Bel of later times, 
and mother to many river-gods, Hea being the god of the hnver regions, 
the ** lord of the Sea or abvss ", and also the lord of Wisdom. 

Dayanisi (Aram,). The god worshipped by the Jews along with other 
Semites, as the ** Ruler of men " ; Dionysos — the Sun ; whence Jehovah- 
Nissi, or lao-Nisi, the same as Dio-nysos or Jove of Xyssa. (See Isis 
UnveiL II. 526.) 

Day of Brahma. See '* Brahma's Day " etc. 

Dayus or Dyaus (Sk.). A Vcdic term. The unrevealed Deity, or that 
which reveals Itself only as light and the bright day — metaphorically. 

Death, Kiss of. According to the Kabbalah, the earnest follower does 
not die by the power of the Evil Spirit, Yetzer ha Rah, but by a kiss 
from the mouth of Jehovah Tetragrammaton, meeting him in the Haikal 
Ahabah or Palace of Love, [w.w.w.] 

Dei termini (Lat,), The name for pillars with human heads repre- 
senting Hermes, placed at cross-roads by the ancient Greeks and 
Romans. Also the general name for deities presiding over boundaries 
and frontiers. 

Deist. One who admits the existence of a god or gods, but claims 
to know nothing of either and denies revelation. A I'Vcethinker of olden 
times. 

Demerit. In Occult and JUiddhistic parlance, a constituent of Karma. 
It is through avidya or ignorance of vidya, divine illumination, that merit 
and demerit are produced. Once an Arhat obtains full illumination and 
perfect control over his personality and lower nature, he ceases to create 
" merit and demerit *'. 

Demeter. The Hellenic name for the Latin Ceres, the goddess of 
corn and tillage. The astronomical sign, Virgo. The lilleusinian 
Mysteries were celebrated in her honour. 

Demiurgic Hind. The same as ** Universal Mind ". MaJiat, the first 
" product " of Brahma, or himself. 

DemiurgOB (Gr.) The Demiurge or Artificer ; the Supernal Power which 
built the universe. Freemasons derive from this word their phrase of 
** Supreme Architect ". With the Occultists it is the third manifested 
Logos, or Plato's ''second god", the second logos being represented by him 
as the " Father ", the only Deity that he dared mention as an Initiate 
into the Mysteries. 

Demon est Deus inversas (Lat,), A Kabbalistic axiom ; ///., '* the 
devil is god reversed " ; which means that there is neither evil nor good, 
but that the forces which create the one create the other, according to 
the nature of the materials they find to work upon. 



98 THKOSOPHICAL 

Demonologia (Gr.). Treatises or Discourses upon Demons, or Gods 
in their dark aspects. 

Demons. According to the Kabbalah, the demons dwell in the world 
of Assiah, the world of matter and of the ** shells" of the dead. They 
are the Klippoth. There are Seven Hells, whose demon dwellers repre- 
sent the vices personified. Their prince is Samael, his female companion 
is Isheth Zenunim— the woman of prostitution : united in aspect, they are 
named ** The Beast ", Chiva. [w.w.w.j 

Demrusch (Pcrs.). A Ciiant in the mythology of ancient Iran. 

Denis, Angoras, ** A physician of Paris, astrologer and alchemist in the 
XlVth century " (R.M.C.). 

Deona Hati. In the Kolarian dialect, one who exorcises evil spirits. 

Dervish. A Mussulman — Turkish or Persian — ascetic. A nomadic and 
wandering mork. Dervishes, however, sometimes Hve in communities. 
They are often called the ** whirling charmers". Apart from his 
austerities of life, prayer and contemplation, the Turkish, Egyptian, or 
Arabic devotee presents but little similarity with the Hindu fakir, who is 
also a Mussuhnan. The latter may become a saint and holy mendicant ; 
the former will never reach beyond his second class of occult manifesta- 
tions. The dervish may also be a strong mesmerizer, but he will never 
voluntarily submit to the abominable and almost incredible self-punish- 
ment which the fakir invents for himself with an ever-increasing avidity, 
until nature succumbs and he dies in slow and excruciating tortures. 
The most dreadful operations, such as flaying the limbs alive ; cutting 
off the toes, feet, and legs ; tearing out the eyes ; and causing one's self 
to be buried alive up to the chin in the earth, and passing whole months 
in this posture, seem child's play to them. The Dervish must not be 
confused with the Hindu sanydsi or yogi, (See " Fakir"). 

Desatir. A very ancient Persian work called the Book of Shet, It 
speaks of the thirteen Zoroasters, and is very mystical. 

Deva (Sk.). A god, a "resplendent" deity. Deva-Deus, from the 
root div "to shine". A Deva is a celestial being — whether good, bad, 
or indifferent. Pevas inhabit " the three worlds ", which are the three 
\ planes above us. There are 33 groups or 330 millions of them. 

Deva Sarga (Sk.). Creation: the origin of the principles, said to be 
Intelligence born of the (jualities or the attributes of nature. 

Devachan (Sk.), The " dwelling of the gods". A state intermediate 
between two earth-lives, into which the Ego (Alma-Ijuddhi-Manas, or 
the Trinity made One) enters, after its separation from Kama Rupa, and 
the disintegration of the lower principles on earth. 

Devajn&nas (Sk,). or Daivajna. The higher classes of celestial beings, 
those who possess divine knowledge. 



GLOSSARY 99 

Devaki (Sk,). The mother of Krishna. She was shut up in a 
dungeon by her brother, King Kansa, for fear of the fulfihnent of a 
prophecy which stated that a son of his sister should dethrone and kill 
him. Notwithstanding the strict watch kept, Devaki was overshadowed 
by Vishnu, the holy Spirit, and thus gave birth to that god's avataray 
Krishna. (See " Kansa ".) 

Deva-laya (Sk.), " The shrine of a Deva ". The name given to 
all Brahmanical temples. 

Deva-lokas (Sk.), The abodes of the Gods or Devas in superior 
spheres. The seven celestial worlds above Mem. 

Devam&tpi (Sk.). Lit., ** the mother of the gods". A title of Aditi, 
Mystic Space. 

Ddvanfigari (Sk.). Lit,, ** the language or letters of the devas" or 
gods. The characters of the Sanskrit language. The alphabet and 
the art of writing were kept secret for ages, as the Dwijas (Twice- born) 
and the /)/^5////^5 (Initiates) alone were permitted to use this art. It was 
a crime for a Sudra to recite a verse of the Vcdas. and for anv of the 
two low^er castes (Vaisya and Sudra) to know the letters was an offence 
punishable by death. Therefore is the word lipi, ** writing", absent 
from the oldest MSS., a fact which gave the Orientalists the erro- 
neous and rather incongruous idea that writinfjr was not only unknown 
before the day of Panini, but even to that sage himself! That the 
greatest grammarian the world has ever produced should be ignorant of 
writing would indeed be the greatest and most incomprehensible pheno- 
menon of all. 

Devapi /"SA. y. A Sanskrit Sage of the race of Kuru, who, together 
with another Sage (Moru), is supposed to live throughout the four ages 
and until the coming of Maitreya Buddha, or Kalki (the last Avatar of 
Vishnu) ; who, like all the Saviours of the Wopld in their last appearance, 
like Sosiosh of the Zoroastrians and the Rider of St. John's Revelation, 
will appear seated on a White Horse. The two, Dcvapi and Moru, are 
suppK)sed to live in a Himalayan retreat called Kalapa or Katapa. This 
is a Puninic allegory. 

DoYarshiB, or Deva-rishi (Sk.h Lit., '* gods rishis " ; the divine or god- 
like saints, those sages who attain a fully divine nature on earth. 

Devasarman fSk.j. A very ancient author who died about a century 
after Gautama l^uddha. He wrote two famous works, in which he 
denied the existence of both Kf:;o and non-E^o, the one as successfully as 
the other. 

Dh&rana (Sk.j. That state in Yoga practice when the mind has 
to be fixed unflinchingly on some object of meditation. 



lOO THEOSOPHICAL 

Dhfiran! (Sk.). In Buddhism — both Southern and Northern — and 
also in Hinduism, it means simply a ynantra or mantras — sacred verses 
from the Rig Veda, In days of old these mantras or Dharani were all 
considered mystical and practically efficacious in their use. At present, 
however, it is the Yogacharya school alone which proves the claim in 
practice. When chanted according to given instructions a Dharani 
produces wonderful effects. Its occult power, however, does not reside 
in the words hut in the inflexion or accent given and the resulting sound 
originated thereby. (See ** Mantra " and ** Akasa "). 

Dharma (Sk,), The sacred Law; the Buddhi.st Canon. 

Dharmaohakra (Sk,), Lit,, The turning of the ** wheel of the Law". 
The emblem of Buddhism as a system of cycles and rebirths or 
reincarnations. 

Dharmak&ya (Sk,), LiY., "the glorified spiritual body" called the 
** Vesture of Bliss". The third, or highest of the Trikdya (Three Bodies), 
the attribute developed by every ** Buddha ", i,e,, every initiate who has 
crossed or reached the end of what is called the ** fourth Path " (in 
esotericism the sixth ** portal " prior to his entry on the seventh). The 
highest of the Trikdya, it is the fourth of the Buddhakchetra, or Buddhic 
planes of consciousness, represented figuratively in Buddhist asceticism 
as a robe or vesture of luminous Spirituality. In popular Northern 
Buddhism these vestures or rohes are: (i) Nirmanakaya, (2) Sambho- 
gakaya, (3) and Dharmakaya, the last being the highest and most 
sublimated of all, as it places the ascetic on the threshold of Nirvana. 
(See, however, the Voice of tlie Silence, page 96, Glossary, for the true esoteric 
meaning.) 

Dharmaprabhasa (Sk,). The name of the Buddha who will appear 
during the seventh Root-race. (See ** Ratnavabhasa Kalpa", when sexes 
will exist no longer). 

Dharmasmriti Upasthana (Sk,). A very long compound word 
containing a very mystical warning. ** Remember, the constituents 
(of human nature) originate according to the Niddnas, and are not originally 
the Self", which means — that, which the Esoteric Schools teach, and 
not the ecclesiastical interpretation. 

Dharmasoka (Sk,). The name given to the first Asoka after his 
conversion to Buddhism, — King Chandragupta, who served all his long 
life ** Dharma ", or the law of Buddha. King Asoka (the second) was 
not converted, but was born a Buddhist. 

Dh&tu (Pali), Relics of Buddha's body collected after his cremation. 

Dhruva (Sk,). An Aryan Sage, now the Pole Star. A Kshatriya 

(one of the warrior caste) who became through religious austerities a 



GLOSSARY lOI 

Riski, and was, for this reason, raised by Vishnu to this eminence in the 
skies. Also called Grah-Adhdr or ** the pivot of the planets ". 

Dhyan Chohans (Sk.). Lit., ** The Lords of Light ". The highest 
gods, answering to the Roman Catholic Archangels. The divine 
Intelligences charged with the supervision of Kosmos. 

Dhyana (Sh.), In Buddhism one of the six Paramitas of perfection, a 
state of abstraction which carries the ascetic practising it far above this 
plane of sensuous perception and out of the world of matter. Li/., ** con- 
templation ". The six stages of Dhyan differ only in the degrees of 
abstraction of the personal Ego from sensuous life. 

Dhyani Bodhisattvas (Sk,). In Buddhism, the five sons of the 
Dhyani-Buddhas. They have a mystic meaning in Esoteric Philosophy. 

Dhyani Buddhas (Sk.), They ** of the Merciful Heart" ; worshipped 
especially in Nepaul. These have again a secret meaning. 

Dhyani Pasa (Sk,). ** The rope of the Dhyanis " or Spirits ; the Ring 
** Pass not " (See Sec. Doci,, Stanza V., Vol. I., p. 129). 

Diakka. Called by Occultists and Theosophists " spooks " and 
"shells ", i.e., phantoms from Kama Loka. A word invented by the great 
American Seer, Andrew Jackson Davis, to denote what he considers 
untrustworthy ** Spirits ". In his own words : ** A Diakka (from the 
Summerland) is one who takes insane delight in play in ji^ parts, in juggling 
tricks, in personating opposite characters ; to whom prayer and profane 
utterances are of equi-value; surcharged with a passion for lyrical 
narrations; . . . morally deficient, he is without the active feelings 
of justice, philanthropy, or tender affection. He knows nothing of what 
men call the sentiment of gratitude ; tlie ends of hate and love are the 
same to him ; his motto is often fearful and terrible to others— SELF is 
the whole of private living, and exalted annihilation the end of all private 
life. Only yesterday, one said to a lady medium, signing himself 
Swedenbarg, this : * Whatsoever is, has been, will be, or may be, that I 
AM ; and private Hfe is but the aggregative phantasms of thinking throb- 
lets, rushing in their rising onward to the central heart of eternal death * ! " 
{The Diakka and their Victims: ** an explanation of the False and Repulsive 

in Spiritualism.") These '* Diakka " are then simply the comnumi- 
catingand materializing so-called ** Spirits" of Mediums and SpirituaHsts. 

Dianoia (Gr.). The same as the Logos. The eternal source of 
thought, "divine ideation ", which is the root of all thought. (See 
" Ennoia,") 

DidOi or Elissa. Astarte ; the Virgin of the Sea — who crushes the 
Dragon under her foot. The patroness of the Phccnician mariners. 
A Queen of Carthage who fell in love with /Eneas according to Virgil. 



i02 fUtOSOHHiCAL 

Digambara (Sk,), A naked mendicant. Lit., ** clothed with 
Space ". A name of Siva in his character of Rudra, the Yogi. 

Dii Hinores (Lat,). The inferior or ** reflected " group of the 
** twelve gods " or Dii Majores, described by Cicero in his De Natura 
Deorum, I. 13. 

Dik (Sk.), Space, Vacuity. 

Diktamnon (Gr.), or Dictammis (Dittany), A curious plant possessing 
very occult and mystical properties and well-known from ancient times. 
It was sacred to the Moon-Goddesses, Luna, Astarte, Diana. The 
Cretan name of Diana was Diktynna, and as such the goddess wore a 
wreath made of this magic plant. The Diktamnon is an evergreen shrub 
whose contact, as claimed in Occultism, develops and at the same time 
cures somnambulism. Mixed with Verbena it will produce clairvoyance 
and ecstasy. Pharmacy attributes to the Diktamnon strongly sedative and 
quieting properties. It grows in abundance on Mount Dicte, in Crete, 
and enters into many magical performances resorted to by the Cretans 
even to this day. 

Diksha (Sk,). Initiation. Dikshit, an Initiate. 

Dingir and Mul-lil (Akkad.). The Creative Gods. 

Dinur (Heh.), The River of Fire whose flame burns the Souls of the 
guilty in the Kabbalistic allegory. 

Dionysos (Sk.). The Demiurgos, who, like Osiris, was killed by the 
Titans and dismembered into fourteen parts. He was the personified 
Sun, or as the author of the Great Dionysiak Myth says : ** He is Phanes, 
the spirit of material visibility, Kyklops giant of the Universe, with one 
bright solar eye, the growth-power of the world, the all-pervading animism 

of things, son of Semele " Dionysos was born at Nysa or 

Nissi, the name given by the Hebrews to Mount Sinai (Exodus xvii. 15), 
the birthplace of Osiris, which identifies both suspiciously with ** Jehovah 
Nissi ". (See his Unv. II. 165, 526.) 

DioBOuri (Gr,). The name of Castor and Pollux, the sons of Jupiter 
and Leda. Their festival, the Dioscuria, was celebrated with much 
rejoicing by the Lacedaemonians. 

Dfpamkara (Sk.), Lit., **the Buddha of fixed light " ; a predecessor 
of Gautama, the Buddha. 

Diploteratology (Gr.). Production of mixed Monsters ; in abbrevia- 
tion teratology. 

Dis (Gr.), In the Theogony of Damascius, the same as Protogonos, the 
" first born light ", called by that author " the disposer of all things ". 

Dises (Scand.). The later name for the divine women called W'alky- 
rics, Norns, &c., in the Edda. 



GLOSSARY 103 

Disk-worship. This was very conunon in Kgypt but not till later 
times, as it began with Anienoph 111., a Dravidian, who brought it from 
Southern India and Ceylon. It was 5«;/-worshij) under another form, 
the Aten-Nephru, Aten-Ra being identical with the Adonai of the Jews, 
the ** Lord of Heaven " or the Sun. The winged tiisk was the emblem 
of the Soul. The Sun was at one time the symbol of Universal Deity 
shining on the whole world and all creatures ; the Sab.xans regarded the Sun 
as the Demiurge and a Universal Deity, as did also the Hindus, and as 
do the Zoroastrians to this day. The Sun is undeniably the one creator 
of physical nature. Lenormant was obliged, notwithstanding his 
orthodox Christianity, to denounce the resemblance between disk and 
Jewish worship. ** Aten represents the Adonai or Lord, the Assyrian 
Tamnmz, and the Syrian Adonis " {The Gr. Dionys, Myth.) 

Divyachakchus {Sk.), Lit,, ** celestial Eye" or divine seeing, per- 
ception. It is the first of the six *' Abhijnas " [q-v.) ; the faculty de- 
veloped by Yoga practice to perceive any object in the Universe, at 
whatever distance. 

Divyasrotra {Sk,). LrV., *' celestial Ear" or divine hearing. The 
second *' Abhijna '*, or the faculty of understanding the language or sound 
produced by any living being on Earth. 

Djati (.S*^.). One of the twelve **Nidanas" {q.v,)\ the cause and the effect 
in the mode of birth taking place according to the** Chatur Voni "(</.?'.), 
when in each case a being, whether man or animal, is placed in one of the 
six (esoteric seven) Gdti or paths of sentient existence, which esoterically, 
counting downward, are: (i) the highest Dhyani [Anupadaka)\ (2) 
Dx-^vas ; (3) Men ; (4) Elementals or Nature Spirits; (5) Animals; (6) 
lower IClementals; (7) organic Germs. These are in the popular or exoteric 
nomenclature, Devas, Men, Asiiras, Bemgs in Hells, Prctas (hungry 
demons), and Animals. 

Djin [Arab.), Elementals; Nature Sprites; Genii. The Djins or 
Jins are much dreaded in Egypt, Persia and elsewhere. 

Djnana (S/t.), or Jndna. Lit., Knowledge ; esoterically, ** supernal or 
divine knowledge acquired by Yo.^m ". Written also Gnynna. 

Docetse {O^*)' Lit., ^' The Illusionists *'. The name given by orthodox 
Christians to those Gnostics who held that Chri-^t dil not, nor could he, 
suffer death actually, but that, if such a thing hail happened, it was 
merely an illusion which they explained in various ways. 

Dodecahedron {Gr.). According to Plato, the Universe is built by 
*• the first begotten " on the geometrical figure of the Dodecahedron. 
(See Timaiis.) 

Dodona (Gr.j. An ancient city in Thessaly, famous for its Temple of 



104 THEOSOPHICAL 

Jupiter and its oracles. According to ancient lepjends, the town was 
founded by a dove, 

Donar (Scand.), or Thunary Thor. In the North the God of Thunder. 
He was the Jupiter Tonans of Scandinavia. Like as the oak was 
devoted to Jupiter so was it sacred to Thor, and his altars were over- 
shadowed with oak trees. Thor, or Donar, was the offspring of Odin, 
** the omnipotent God of Heaven ", and of Mother Earth. 

Dondam-pai-den-pa (Tib.). The same as the Sanskrit term Paramar- 
thasatya or "absolute truth", the highest spiritual self-consciousness and 
perception, divine self-consciousness, a very mystical term. 

Doppelganger (Germ.), A synonym of the ** Double " and of the 
** Astral body " in occult parlance. 

DDFJesempa (Tib,), The ** Diamond Soul ", a name of the celestial 
Buddha. 

Dorjeshang T'^^^J- A title of Buddha in his highest aspect; a name 
of the supreme Buddha ; also Dorje, 

Double. The same as the ** Astral body " or ** Doppelganger ". 

Double Image. The name among the Jewish Kabbalists for the Dual 
Ego, called respectively : the Higher, Metatron, and the Lower, Samael, 
They are figured allegorically as the two inseparable companions of man 
through Hfe, the one his Guardian Angel, the other his Evil Demon. 

Dracontia (Gr,), Temples dedicated to the Dragon, the emblem of the 
Sun, the symbol of Deity, of Life and Wisdom. The Egyptian Karnac, 
the Carnac in Britanny, and Stonehenge are Dracontia well known to all. 

Drakon (Gr.) or Dragon, Now considered a ** mythical '* monster, 
perpetuated in the West only on seals, &c., as a heraldic griffin, and the 
Devil slain by St. George, &c. In fact an extinct antediluvian monster. 
In Babylonian antiquities it is referred to as the *' scaly one" and 
connected on many gems with Tiamat the sea. ** The Dragon of the Sea " 
is repeatedly mentioned. In Egypt, it is the star of the Dragon (then 
the North Pole Star), the origin of the connection of almost all the gods 
with the Dragon. Bel and the Dragon, Apollo and Python, Osiris and 
Typhon, Sigur and Fafnir, and finally St. George and the Dragon, are 
the same. They were all solar gods, and wherever we find the Sun there 
also is the Dragon, the symbol of Wisdom — Thoth-Hermes. The 
Hierophants of Egypt and of Babylon styled themselves ** Sons of the 
Serpent-God " and ** Sons of the Dragon ". ** I am a Serpent, I am a 
Druid '*, said the Druid of the Celto-Britannic regions, for the Serpent 
and the Dragon were both types of Wisdom, Immortality and Rebirth. 
As the serpent casts its old skin only to reappear in a new one, so docs 
the immortal Ego cast off one personality but to assume another. 



GLOSSARY 105 

Draupnir fScand.). The golden armlet of Wodan or Odin, the 
companion of the spear Gungnir which he holds in his right hand ; both 
are endowed with wonderful magic properties. 

DravidianB. A group of tribes inhabiting Southern India ; the 
aborigines. 

DraTya (Sk,), Substance (metaphysically). 

Drishti (Sk.). Scepticism ; unbelief. 

Dmids. A sacerdotal caste which flourished in Britain and Gaul. 
They we re Initiates who admitted females into their sacred order, and 
initiated them into the~nVysteries of their religion. They never entrusted 
their sacred verses and scriptures to writing, but, like the Brahmans of 
old, committed them to memory ; a feat which, according to the state- 
ment of Caesar, took twenty years to accomplish. Like the Parsis 
they had no images or statues of their gods. The Celtic religion 
considered it blasphemy to represent any god, even of a minor character, 
under a human figure. It would have been well if the Greek and Roman 
Christians had learnt this lesson from the ** pagan " Druids. The three 
chief commandments of their religion were: — ** Obedience to divine 
laws ; concern for the welfare of mankind ; suffering with fortitude all 
the evils of life". 

Drazes. A large sect, numbering about 100,000 adherents, living on 
Mount Lebanon in Syria. Their rites arc very mysterious, and no 
traveller, who has written anything about them, knows for a certainty 
the whole truth. They are the Sujis of Syria. They resent being called , 
Druzes as an insult, but call themselves the ** disciples of Hamsa ", their 
Messiah, who came to them in the ninth century from the ** Land of 
the Word of God", which land and word they kept religiously secret. 
The Messiah to come will be the same Hamsa, but called Hakcm — the 
" All-Healer ". (See Isis Unveiled, II., 308, et seq.) 

Dudaim (Heb.), Mandrakes. The Atropa Mandragora plant is 
mentioned in Genesis, xxx., 14, and in Canticles: the name is 
related in Hebrew to words meaning ** breasts " and ** love ", 
the plant was notorious as a love charm, and has been used in many 
forms of black magic. : w. w. w.] 

Dudaim in Kabbalistic parlance is the Soul and Spirit; any two 
things united in love and friendship fdodim). *' Happy is he who 
preserves his dudaim (higher and lower Manas) inseparable." 

Dugpas (Tib. J, Lit., '* Red Caps," a sect in Tibet. Before the advent 
of Tsong-ka-pa in the fourteenth century, the Tibetans, whose Buddhism 
had deteriorated and been dreadfully adulterated with the tenets of the 
old Bhon religion, — were all Dugpas. From that century, however, and 



io6 THLOSOPHICAL 

after the rigid laws imposed upon the Gelukpas (yellow caps) and the 
general reform and purification of Buddhism (or Lamaisni), the Dugpas 
have given themselves over more than ever to sorcery, immorality, and 
drunkenness. Since then the word Dngpa has become a synonym of 
** sorcerer ", ** adept of black magic " and everything vile. There are 
few, if any, Dugpas in Eastern Tibet, but they congregate in Bhutan, 
Sikkim, and the borderlands generally. Europeans not being permitted 
to penetrate further than those borders, the Orientalists never having 
studied Buddho-Lamaism in Tibet proper, but judging of it on hearsay 
and from what Cosmo di Koros, Schlagintweit, and a few others have 
learnt of it from Dugpas, confuse both religions and bring them under 
one head. They thus give out to the public pure Dugpaism instead of 
Buddho-Lamaism. In short Northern Buddhism in its purified, meta- 
physical form is almost entirely unknown. 

Dukkha (Sk.j, Sorrow, pain. 

Dumah (Heb.), The Angel of Silence (Death) in the Kabbala. 

Dur^a (Sk,), Lit,, ** inaccessible ". The female potency of a god; 
the name of Kali, the wife of Siva, the Mahesvara^ or ** the great god ". 

Dustcharitra (Sk,), The '* ten evil acts" ; namely, three acts of the 
body VIZ,, taking life, theft and adultery ; four evil acts of the mouth, 
viz., lying, exaggeration in accusations, slander, and foolish talk ; and 
three evil acts of mind (Lower Manas), viz., envy, malice or revenge, 
and unbelief. 

Dwapara Yuga (Sk,). The third of the *' Four Ages" in Hindu 
Philosophy ; or the second age counted from below. 

Dwarf of Death. In the Edda of the Norsemen, Iwaldi, the Dwarf 
of Death, hides Life in the depths of the great ocean, and then sends 
her up into the world at the right time. This Life is Iduna, the beauti- 
ful maiden, the daughter of the ** Dwarf". She is the Eve of the 
Scandinavian Lays, for she gives of the apples of ever-renewed youth 
to the gods of Asgard to eat ; but these, instead of being cursed for so 
doing and doomed to die, give thereby renewed youth yearly to the 
earth and to men, after every short and sweet sleep in the arms of the 
Dwarf. Iduna is raised from the Ocean when Bragi (q^v,), the 
Dreamer of Life, without spot or blemish, crosses asleep the silent waste 
of waters. Bragi is the divine ideation of Life, and Iduna living 
Nature — Prakriti, Eve. 

Dwellers (on the Threshold). A term invented by Bulwer Lytton in 
Zanoni ; but in Occultism the word ** Dweller " is an occult term used by 
students for long ages past, and refers to certain maleficent astral 
Doubles of defunct persons. 



GLOSSARY 107 

Dwesa (Sk.). Anger. One of tlu* thrcL* principal stales of mind (of 
which 63 are enumerated), which are 7u//r<' — pride or evil i\vir,\ve^I)ursa — 
anger, of which hatred is a part, and Molta — the i^^norante of truth. 
These three are to {ye steadily avoided. 

Dwy& (Sk.j, ** Twice-born ". In days oi old this term was used 
only of the Initiated Brahmans ; but now it is applied to every man 
l>elonging to the first of the four castes, who has underj^one a certain 
ceremony. 

Dwija Brahman i Sk,h The investure with the sacred thread that now 
constitutes the ** second birth ". ICven w Sudra who cho(;st;s to pay for 
the honour becomes, after the ceremony of passinj^^ throu.u^h a silver or 
golden cow — a du-ija. 

Dwipa (Sk.), An island or a continent. The Hindus have seven 
(Sapta dmpaj ; the Buddhists only four. This is owing to a misunder- 
stood reference of the Lord Buddha who, using the term metaphorically, 
appHeti the word duipa to the races of men. The four Root -races which 
preceded our fifth, were compared by Siddhartha to four continents or 
isles which studded the ocean of birth and death — Samsnra. 

Dynasties. In India there are two, the Lunar and the Solar, or the 
Somavansa and the Suryavansa. In Chaldea and Hgypt there were also 
two distinct kinds of dynasties, the divine and the human. In both 
countries people were ruled in the beginning of time by Dynasties of 
Gods. In Chaldea they reigned one! hundred and twenty Sari, or in .ill 
432,000 years ; which amounts to the same figures as a Hindu Mahay uga 
4,320,000 years. The chronology prefacing the Book of Genesis (English 
translation) is given *' Before Christ, 4004 ". But the figures are a 
rendering by solar years. In the original Hebrew, which preserved a 
lunar calculation, the figures are 4,320 years. This " coincidence " is 
well explained in Occultism. 

Dyookna (Kab,j. The shadow of eternal Light. The ** Angels of the 
Presence " or archangels. The same as the Fcroucr in the Vendidad and 
other Zoroastrian works. 

Dzyn or Dzyan {lib,j. Written also Urjen, A corruption of the 
Sanskrit Dhyan and Jndna (pv ^nyana phonetically)- -Wisdom, divine 
knowledge. In Tibetan, learning is called d<jin. 



I08 THEOSOPHICAL 



E. 

t/. — The fifth letter of the English alphabet. The he (soft) of the 
Hebrew alphabet becomes in the Ehevi system of reading that language 
an E. Its numerical value is five, and its symbolism is a tt^»/i<?z«/; the 
womb, in the Kabbala. In the order of the divine names it stands for 
the fifth, which is Hadoor or the ** majestic " and fhe ** splendid." 

Ea (Chald.) also Hea, The second god of the original Babylonian 
trinity composed of Ann, Hea and Bel. Hea was the ** Maker of Fate", 
** Lord of the Deep", ** God of Wisdom and Knowledge", and "Lord of 
theCityof Eridu". 

Ea^e. This symbol is one of the most ancient. With the Greeks 
and Persians it was sacred to the Sun ; with the Egyptians, under the 
name of Ah, to Horus, and the Kopts worshipped the eagle under the name 
of AJwm, It was regarded as the sacred emblem of Zeus by the Greeks, 
and as that of the highest god by the Druids. The symbol has passed 
down to our day, when following the example of the pagan Marius, who, 
in the second century b.c. used the double-headed eagle as the ensign of 
Rome, the Christian crowned heads of Europe made the double-headed 
sovereign of the air sacred to themselves and their scions. Jupiter was 
satisfied with a one- headed eagle and so was the Sun. The imperial 
houses of Russia, Poland, Austria, Germany, and the late Empire of the 
Napoleons, have adopted a two-headed eagle as their device. 

Easter. The word evidently comes from Ostara, the Scandinavian 
goddess of spring. She was the symbol of the resurrection of all nature 
and was w^orshipped in early spring. It w^as a custom with the pagan 
Norsemen at that time to exchange coloured eggs called the eggs of 
Ostara. These have now become Easter-Eggs. As expressed in Asgard 
and the Gods : ** Christianity put another meaning on the old custom, 
by connecting it with the feast of the Resurrection of the Saviour, who, 
like the hidden life in the eg^, slept in the grave for three days before he 
awakened to new life ". This was the more natural since Christ was 
identified with that same Spring Sun which awakens in all his glory, 
after the dreary and long death of winter. (See ** Eggs ".) 

Ebionites (Heb,), Lit,, **the poor"; the earliest sect of Jewish 
Christians, the other being the Nazarenes. They existed when the term 
** Christian" was not yet heard of. Many of the relations oilassou (Jesus), 
the adept ascetic around whom the legend of Christ was formed, were 
among the Ebionites. As the existence of these mendicant ascetics can 



GLOSSARY 109 

be traced at least a century earlier than chronological Christianity, it is 
an additional proof that lassoit oxjeshu lived dnrin*^ the rv'v^u of Alexander 
Jannaeus at Lyd (or Lud), where he was put to death as stated in the 
Sephn Toldos Jeshu. 

Eobatana. A famous city in Media worthy of a place amon^ the 
seven wonders of the world. It is thus descriheil by Draper in his 
Conflict between Religion and Scientw chap, i, . . *' The cool 

summer retreat of the Persian Kint(s, was defended hy seven encirclinjj^ 
walls of hewn and polished blocks, the interior ones in succession of 
increasing height, and of different colours, in astrological accordance 
with the seven planets. The palace was roofed with silver tiles ; its 
beams were plated with gohl. At midnight in its halls, the sun was 
rivalled by many a row of naphta cressets. A paradise, that luxury of 
the monarchs of the East, was planted in the midst of the city. The 
Persian Empire was truly the garden of the world." 

Eohath (Heb.). The same as the following — the *' One ", but 
feminine. 

Echod (Heb,), or Echad. " One", masculine, applied to Jehovah. 

Eclectic Philosophy. One of the names given to the Neo- Platonic 
school of Alexandria. 

Ecstasis {Gr,), A psycho-spiritual state ; a physical trance which 
induces clairvoyance and a beatific state bringing on visions. 

Edda (Iceland.), Lit.y ** great-grandmother " of the Scandinavian Lays. 
It was Bishop Hrynjuld Sveinsson, who collected them and brought them 
to light in 1643. There are two collections of Sagas, translated by the 
Northern Skalds, and there are two Eddas. The earliest is of unknown 
authorship and date and its anticjuity is very great. These Sagas were 
collected in the Xlth century by an Icelandic priest ; the second is a 
collection of the history (or myths) of the gods spoken of in the first, 
which became the Germanic deities, giants, dwarfs and heroes. 

Eden (Heb.), ** Delight ', pleasure. In Genesis the *' Garden of 
Delight " built by God ; in the Kabbala the ''Garden of Delight", a 
place of Initiation into the mysteries. Orientalists identify it with a 
place which was situated in Babylonia in the district of Karduniyas, 
called also Gan-dunu, which is almost like the Gan-eden of the Jews. 
(See the works of Sir H. Raw^linson, and G. Smith.) That district has 
four rivers, Euphrates, Tigris, Surappi, Ukni. The two first have been 
adopted without any change by the Jews ; the other two they have 
probably transformed into " Gihon and Pison ", so as to have something 
original. The following are some of the reasons for the identification of 
Eden, given by Assyriologists. The cities of Babylon, Larancha and 



no THEOSOPHICAL 

Sippara, were founded before the flood, according to the chronology of 
the Jews. ** Surippak was the city of the ark, the mountain east of the 
Tigris was the resting place of the ark, Babylon was the site of the 
tower, and Ur of the Chaldees the birthplace of Abraham." And, as 
Abraham, ** the first leader of the Hebrew race, migrated from Ur to 
Harran in Syria and from thence to Palestine ", the best Assyriologists 
think that it is ** so much evidence in favour of the hypothesis that 
Chaldea was the original home of these stories (in the Bible) and that the 
Jews received them originally from the Babylonians". 

Edom (Heb,), Edomite Kings. A deeply concealed mystery is to be 
found in the allegory of the seven Kings of Edom, who *' reigned in the 
land of Edom before there reigned any King over the children of Israel ". 
(Gen. xxxvi. 31.) The Kabbala teaches that this Kingdom was one of 
" unbalanced forces" and necessarily of unstable character. The world 
of Israel is a type of the condition of the worlds which came into exis- 
tence subsequently to the later period when the equilibrium had become 
established, [w. w. w.] 

On the other hand the Eastern Esoteric philosophy teaches that the 
seven Kings of Edom are not the type of perished worlds or unbalanced 
forces, but the symbol of the seven human Root-races, four of which 
have passed away, the fifth is passing, and two are still to come. Though 
in the language of -esoteric blinds, the hint in St. John's Revelation is clear 
enough when it states in chapter xvii , 10 : " And there are seven Kings; 
five are fallen, and one (the fifth, still) is, and the other (the sixth Root- 
race) is not yet come " Had all the seven Kings of Edom 

perished as worlds of '* unbalanced forces ", how could the fifth still be, 
and the other or others **not yet come " ? In The Kabbalah Unveiled, we 
read on page 48, " The seven Kings had died and their possessions had 
been broken up", and a footnote emphasizes the statement by saying, 
'* these seven Kings are the Edomite Kings ". 

Edris (Arab.), or Idris. Meaning '* the learned One", an epithet 
applied by the Arabs to Enoch. 

E^S (Easter). Eggs were symbolical from an early time. There was 
the *' Mundane Egg", in which Brahma gestated, with the Hindus the 
Hiranya-Gharba, and the Mundane Egg of the Egyptians, which proceeds 
from the mouth of the *' unmade and eternal deity ", Kneph, and which 
is the emblem of generative power. Then the Egg of Babylon, which 
hatched Ishtar, and was said to have fallen from heaven into the 
Euphrates. Therefore coloured eggs were used yearly during spring in 
almost every country, and in Egypt were exchanged as sacred symbols 
in the spring-time, which was, is, and ever will be, the emblem of birth 



GLOSSARY 1 1 1 

or rebirth, cosmic and human, celestial and terrestrial. They were hunp 
up in Egyptian temples and are so suspended to this day in Mahometan 
mosques. 

Egkosmioi- (Gk.), " The intercosmic f^ods, each of which presides 
over a great number of daemons, to whom they impart their power and 
change it from one to another at will ", says Proclus, and he adds, that 
which is taught in the esoteric doctrine. In his system he shows the 
uppermost regions from the zenith of the Universe to the moon belong- 
ing to the go<ls, or planetary Spirits, according to their hierarchies and 
classes. The highest among them were the twelve Hiiper-ouranioiy the 
super-celestial gods. Next to the latter, in rank and power, came the 
Eghosmioi. 

E^O (Lat,), '* Self" ; the consciousness in man '* I am I " — or the 
feeling of *' I-am-ship ". Esoteric philosophy teaches the existence of 
two Egos in man, the mortal or personah and the Hipjher, the Divine and 
the Impersonal, calling the former ** personality " and the latter 
" Individuality '\ 

Egoity. " From the word " Ego ". ICgoity means *' individuality ", 
never ** personality", and is the opposite of egoisw or '* selfishness", the 
characteristic par excellence of the latter. 

E^re^ores. Eliphas Levi calls tlumi ** the chiefs of the souls who arr 
the spirits of energy and action '* ; whatever that niay or may not mean. 
The Oriental Occultists describe the Egre^ions as I3eings whose bodies 
and essence is a tissue of the so-called astral light. They are the shadows 
of the higher Planetary Spirits whose bodies are of the essence of the 
higher divine light. 

Eheyeh (Heb.J, "I am", according to Ibn (lebirol, but not in the 
sense of ** I am that I am ". 

Eidolon (Gr,), The same as that which we term the human phantom, 
the astral form. 

Eka (Sk,), **()ne"; also a synonym of MaJiat, the Universal Mind, 
as the principle of Intelligence. 

Ekana-FUpa (Skj. The One (and the Manx) bodies or forms; a 
term applied by the Purttnas to Deity. 

Ekasloka Shastra (Sk\). A work on the Shastras (Scriptures) by 
Nagarjuna ; a mystic work translated into Chinese. 

El-Elion (Heb.J. A name of the Deity borrowed by the Jews from the 
Phoenician Eton, a name of the Sun. 

Elementals. Spirits of the Elements. The creatures evolved in the 
four Kingdoms or Elements — earth, air, fire, and water. They are called 



112 THEOSOPHICAL 

by ihfr Kabbalists, (inomes (of the earth i, S\lplis (of the airj, Salaman- 
<h:rs (of the fire;, and Undines (of the water*. Except a few f»f the 
higher kinds, and their rulers, they are rather forces of nature than 
ethereal men and women. These forces, as the servile agents of the 
Occultists, may prr>«Iuce various effects: but if employed by •*Elementaries** 
(q,v.) — in which case they enslave the mediums — they will deceive the 
credulous. All the lower invisible beings generated on the 5th, 6th, 
and 7th planes of our terrestrial atmosphere, are calleii Elementals : 
Peris, Devs, Djins. Sylvans. Satyrs, Fauns, Elves. Dwarfs. Trolls. 
Kolxjlds, Brownies, Nixies, Goblins, Pinkies, Hanshees, Moss People. 
White Ladies, Spooks, Fairies, etc., etc., etc. 

Elementaries. Properly, the disembodied souls of the depraved ; these 
souls having at some time prior to death separated from themselves their 
divine spirits, and so lost their chance for immortality ; but at the pre- 
sent stage of learning it has been thought best to apply the term to the 
sporjks or phantoms of disembodied persons, in general, to those whose 
temporary habitation is the Kama Loka. Eliphas Levi and some other 
Kabbalists make little distinction between elementary spirits who have 
been men, and those beings which people the elements, and are the blind 
forces of nature. Once divorced from their higher triads and their 
bodies, these souls remain in their Kdma-rupic envelopes, and are irresis- 
tibly drawn to the earth amid elements congenial to their gross natures. 
Their sta}' in the Kama Loka varies as to its duration ; but ends 
invariably in disintegration, dissolving like a column of mist, atom by 
atom, in the surrounding elements. 

Elephanta. An island near Bombay, India, on which are the well- 
preserved ruins of the cave-temple of that name. It is one of the most 
ancient in the country and is certainly a Cyclopeian work, though the late 
J. Fergusson has refused it a great antiquity. 

Eleusinia (Gr,), The Eleusinian Mysteries were the most famous and 
the most ancient of all the Greek Mysteries (save the Samothracian), and 
were celebrated near the hamlet of Elcusis, not far from Athens. Epiphanius 
traces them to the days of Inachos (1800 B.c.j, founded, as another version 
has it, by Eumolpus, a King of Thrace and a Hierophant. They were 
celebrated in honour of Demeter, the Greek Ceres and the Egyptian 
Isis ; and the last act of the performance referred to a sacrificial victim 
of atonement and a resurrection, when the Initiate was admitted to the 
highest degree of '' Epopt " (q.v,). The festival of the Mysteries began in 
the month of Botidromion (September), the time of grape-gathering, and 
lasted from the 15th to the 22nd, seven days. The Hebrew feast of 
Tabernacles, the feast of Ingatherings^ in the month of Ethanim (the 
seventh), also began on the 15th and ended on the 22nd of that month. 



GLOSSARY 113 

The name of the month (Kthanim) is derixed, ;iccordin«^ to some, from 
Adonim, Adonia, Attenim, Ethanim, and was in honour of Adonai or 
Adonis (Thammuz), whose deatli was lamented by the Hebrews in the 
groves of Bethlehem. Tlic sacrifice of both ** Hread and Wine" was 
performed before the Mysteries of initiation, and durinfj^ tlio ccremonv 
the mysteries wore divul^^cd to tlio candidates from ihc ptiromu, u kinil 
of book made of two stone tablets (pit mil, joined at one side and 
made to open like a volume. (See his Unveilt'd II.. pp. 44 and 91, r/ seq,, 
for further explanations.) 

Elivagar ^Sf^;/^. ;. The waters of Chaos, called in the cosmoj^ony of 
the Norsemen ** the stream of IClivaj^ar '*. 

Elohfm (Heh.). Also Alhim, the word being variously spelled. Godfrey 
Higpins, who has written much upon its meaning, always spells it Aleim, 
The Hebrew letters are iilepli, lameiL he, yod, mem, and are numerically i, 
30, 5, 10, 40 -Sf). It seems to be the plural of the feminine noun EJoah, 
ALH, formed by adding the common plural form I M, a masculine ending ; 
and hence the whole seems to imply the emitted active and passive 
essences. As a title it is referred to '' Hina'h " the Supernal Mother, as is 
also the fuller title IH\'H ALHIM, Jehovah IClohim. As Binah leads 
on to seven succeedent I'^manations, so '* Elohim " has been said to 
represent a sevenfold power of godhead, iw. w. w.! 

Eloi (Gtt.j. The genius or ruler of Jupiter ; its Planetary Spirit. (See 
Origen, Contra Cclsum.) 

EIu ( Siu^.). An ancient dialect used in Ceylon. 

Emanation the Doctritte of. In its uietaphysical meaning, it is 
opposed to l!)voliiti(jn, yet one with it. Science teaches that evo- 
lution is physiologically a mode of generation in which the germ that 
develops the fo'tus pn -exists already in the parent, the development and 
final form and characteristics of that germ being accomplished in nature ; 
and that iu cosmology the process takes place bliudly through the 
correlation of the elements, and their various compounds. Occultism 
answers that this is only the apparent mode, the real process being 
Emanation, guided by intelligent Forces imder an immutable Law. 
Therefore, while the Occultists and Theosophists believe thoroughly in 
the doctrine of Involution as given t)ut by Kaj>ila and Manu, they are 
Emanationists rather than Evolutionists, Tlie doctrine of Emanation 
was at (jne time universal. It was tau-^lit by the Alexandrian as well as 
by tlie Indian philc)so|)hers, by the Egyptian, the ChaUlean and Hellenic 
Hierophants, and also by the Hebrews (iu their Kabbala, and even in 
Genesis), Vox it is only owing to deliberate mistranslation that the Hebrew 
word asdt has been translated *' angels " from the Septuagint, when it 

H 



114 THEOSOPHICAL 

means Emanations, /Rous, precisely as with the Gnostics. Indeed, in 
Deuteronomy (xxxiii., 2) the word rtsi/ or as/;^^ is translated as ** fiery law", 
whilst the correct rendering of the passage should be ** from his right 
hand went [not a fiery laii>, but] a fin according to law " ; viz,, that the fire 
of one flame is imparted to, and caught up by another like as in a trail 
of inflammable substance. This is precisely emanation. As shown in 
his Unveiled : *' In Ev^olution, as it is now beginning to be understood, 
there is supposed to be in all matter an impulse to take on a higher 
form — a supposition clearly expressed by Manu and other Hindu philoso- 
phers of the highest antiquity. The philosopher's tree illustrates it in 
the case of the zinc solution. The controversy between the followers of 
this school and the Emanationists may be briefly stated thus : The 
Evolutionist stops all inquiry at the borders of *' the Unknowable " ; the 
Emanationist believes that nothing can be evolved — or, as the word 
means, unwombed or born — except it has first been involved, thus indi- 
cating that life is from a spiritual potency above the whole." 

Empusa (Gr.). A ghoul, a vampire, an evil demon taking various 
forms. 

En (or Ain) Soph (Heb,), The endless, limitless and boundless. The 

absolute deific Principle, impersonal and unknowable. It means literally 

** no-thing" i.e., nothing that could be classed with anything else. The 

word and ideas are equivalent to the Vedantic conceptions of Parabrahm. 

[w. w. w.] 

Some Western Kabbalists, however, contrive to make of It, a personal 
** He ", a male deity instead of an impersonal deity. 

En (Chald.J. A negative particle, like a in Greek and Sanskrit. The 
first syllable of ** En-Soph " (q.v.), or nothing that begins or ends, the 
^* Endless ". 

Enoichion (Gr.). Lit., the inner Eye " ; the ** Seer ", a reference to 
the third inner, or Spiritual Eye, the true name for Enoch disfigured from 
Chanoch. 

Ens (Gr.). The same as the Greek To On ** Being ", or the real 
Presence in Nature. 

Ephesus (Gr.). h^amous for its great metaphysical College where 
Occultism {Gnosis) and Platonic philosophy were taught in the days of 
the Apostle Paul. A city regarded as the focus of secret sciences, and 
that Gnosis, or Wisdom, which is the antagonist of the perversion of 
Christo-Esotericism to this day. It was at Ephesus where was the great 
College of the E-isenes and all the loro the Tauaim had brought from 
the Clidldees, 



GLOSSARY 115 

Epimetheus (Gr,), Lit,, '* I Ic who takes counsel after " the event. A 
brother of Prometheus in Greek Mytholojjy. 

Epinoia (Gr.). Thouj^ht, invention, <lesi^n. A name adopted by the 
Gnostics for the first passive /Eon. 

Episcopal Crook. One of the insij^nia of Bishops, derive! from tlie 
sacerdotal sceptre of the Etruscan Auj^urs. It is also found in the hand 
of several gods. 

Epoptes (Gr.). An Initiate. One who has passed his last decree of 
initiation. 

Eridanus (Lat.). Ardan, the Greek name for the river Jordan. 

Eros (Gr,). Hesiod makes of the f:(od Eros the third persona^^e of the 
Hellenic primordial Trinity composed of Ouranos, Giea and Eros. It 
is the personified procreative I'\»rce in nature in its abstract sense, the 
propeller to ** creation " and procreation. Exoterically, mythology 
makes of Eros the god of lustful, animal desire, whence the term frotic ; 
esoterically, it is different. (See ** Kama".) 

Eshmim (Heb.). The Heavens, the Firmament in which are the Sun, 
Planets and Stars ; from the root Sm, meaning to place, dispose ; hence, 
the planets, as disposers. |w. w. w., 

Esoterio (Gr.). Hidden, secret. From the Greek esotericos, ** inner ", 
concealed. 

Esoteric Bodhism. Secret wisdom or intelligence from the Greek 
esoiericos ^' \x\v\LX '\ i\nd the Sanskrit liodhi, ** knowledge", intelligence — 
in contradistinction to Btiddhi^ ^' the faculty of knowledge or intelligence", 
and Buddhism, the philosophy or Law of Huddha (the Enlightened). 
Also written ** Budhism ", from Budha (Intelligence and Wisdom) the 
Son of Soma. 

Essasua. The African and Asiatic sorcerers and serpent charmers. 

Essenes. A hellenized word, from the Hebrew Asa, a " healer". A | 
mysterious sect of Jews said by Pliny to have livecThe'ar tlie Dead Sea 1 
per millia Sffcidorum — foMlK)usands of ages. ** Some have supposed them to 
be extreme Pharisees, and others — which may be the true theory — the 
descendants of the Benim-nahim of the Bible, and think that they were 
*Kenites' and Nazarites. They had many Buddhistic ideas and 
practices ; and it is noteworthy that the priests of the Great Mother at 
Ephesus, Diana-Bhavani with many breasts, were also so denominated. 
Eusebius, and after him Do Quincey, declared them to be the same as 
the early Christians, which is more than probable. The title * brother ', 
used in the early Church, was l£ssenean ; they were a fraternity, or a 
koimbion or community like tlie early converts." (Isis Unveiled.) 

Ether. Students are but too apt to confuse this with Akdsa and with 



11^ THEOSOPHICAT. 

As'.ral Li,i,4it. It is iu.'ither, in the sensu in which ether is described by 
physical Science. Ethe ris a materi al agent, though hitherto undetected 
by any physical apparatus ; whereas Akasa is a distinctly spjritual a gept, 
identical, in one sense, with the Anima Mundi, wfiile'fhe Astral Light is 
only the seventh and highest principle of the terrestrial atmosphere, as 
undetectable as Akasa and real Ether, because it is something quite on 
another plane. The seventh principle of the earth's atmosphere, as said, 
the Astral Light, is only the second on the Cosmic scale. The scale of 
Cosmic Forces, Principles and Planes, of Emanations — on the meta- 
physical — and Evolutions — on the physical plane — is the Cosmic Serpent 
biting its own tail, the Serpent reflecting the Higher, and reflected in its 
turn by the lower Serpent. The Caduceus explains the mystery, and 
the four-fold Dodecahedron on the model of which the universe is said by 
Plato to have been built by the manifested Logos — synthesized by the 
unmanifested First- Born — yields geometrically the key to Cosmogony 
and its microcosmic reflection — our Earth. 

Eurasians. An abbreviation of ** European-Asians ". The mixed 
coloured races : the children of the white fathers and the dark mothers of 
India, or vice versa. 

Evapto. Initiation ; the same as Epopteia. 

Evolution. The development of higher orders of animals from lower. 
As said in I sis Unveiled: '* Modern Science holds but to a one-sided 
physical evolution, prudently avoiding and ignoring the higher or 
spiritual evolution, which would force our contemporaries to confess the 
superiority of the ancient philosophers and psychologists over themselves. 
The ancient sages, ascending to the unknowable, made their starting- 
point from the first manifestation of the unseen, the unavoidable, and, 
from a strictly logical reasoning, the absolutely necessary creative Being, 
the Demiurgos of the universe. Evolution began with them from pure 
spirit, which descending lower and lower down, assumed at last a visible 
and comprehensible form, and became matter. Arrived at this point, 
they speculated in the Darwinian method, but on a far more large and 
comprehensive basis." (See '* Emanation ".) 

Exoteric. Outward, public; the opposite of esoteric or hidden. 

Extra-Cosmic. Outside of Kosmos or Nature; a nonsensical word 
invented to assert the existence of a personal god, independent of, or out- 
side, Nature per se, in opposition to the Pantheistic idea that the whole 
Kosmos is animated or informed with the Spirit of Deity, Nature bemg 
but the garment, and matter the illusive shadow, of the real unseen 
Presence. 

Eye of Horus. A very sacred symbol in ancient Egypt. It was 



^,l.(»ss^K^ 117 

called the ouia : the rij^hl eye represented the sun, the left, the moon. 
Says Macrobius : '* The outu {or itta } is it not the emblem of the sun, 
k'nifr of the world, who from his elevated throne sees all the Universe 
l>elow him ? '* 

Eyes (divine). The '* eyes " the Lord Buddha developed in him 
at tiie twentieth hour of Ins vigil when sitting under the Bo-tree, when 
he was attaining JJuddhaship. They are the eyes of the glorified 
Spirit, to which matter is no longer a physical impediment, and which 
have the power of seeing all things within the space of the limitless 
Universe. On the following morning of that night, at the close of the 
third watch, the ** Merciful One " attained the Supreme Knowledge. 

Ezra (Heb,). The Jewish priest and scribe, who, circa 450 H.c, 
compiled the Pentateuch (if indeed he was not the author of it) and the 
rest of the Old Testament, except Nehemiah and Malachi. [w. w. w.] 

Ezra (Hfb.J. The same as Azareel and Azriel, a great Hebrew 
Kabbalist. His full name is Kabbi Azariel ben Manahem. He 
flourished at \alladolid, Spain, in the twelfth century, and was famous 
as a philosopher and Kabbalist. He is the author of a work on the Ten 
Sephiroth. 



Il8 THEOSOPHICAL 



F. 

r , — The sixth letter of the luiglish alphabet, for which there is no 
equivalent in Hebrew. It is the double Fj of the i^olians which 
became the Digamma for some mysterious reasons. It corresponds to 
the Greek phi. As a Latin numeral it denotes 40, with a dash over the 
letter (F) 400,000. 

Faces (Kabhalistic)y or, as in Hebrew, Partzupheem, The word usually 
refers to Areekh Anpeen or Long Face, and Zeir-Anpeen, or Short Face, 
and Resha Hivrah the ** White Head " or P'ace. The Kabbala states 
that from the moment of their appearance (the hour of differentiation of 
matter) all the material for future forms was contained in the three 
Heads which are one, and called Atteekah Kadosha (Holy Ancients and 
the Faces). It is when the Faces look toward each other, that the 
** Holy Ancients" in three Heads, or Atteekah Kadosha^ are called Areek 
Appayem, i.e., ** Long Faces". (See Zohar iii., 2g2a.) This refers to the 
three Higher Principles, cosmic and human. 

Fafnir (Scand.). The Dragon of Wisdom. 

Fahian (Chin.). A Chinese traveller and writer in the early centuries 
of Christianity, who wTote on Buddhism. 

Fa-Hwa-Kin^ (Chin.). A Chinese work on Cosmogony. 

Faizi (Arab.). Literally the "heart". A writer on occult and 
mystic subjects. 

Fakir (Arab.). A Mussulman ascetic in India, a Mahometan ** Vogi". 
The name is often applied, though erroneously, to Hindu ascetics ; 
for strictly speaking only Mussulman ascetics are entitled to it. This 
loose way of calling things by general names was adopted in Isis 
Unveiled but is now altered. 

Falk, Cain Chenul. A Kabbalistic Jew, reputed to have worked 
** miracles ". Kenneth Mackenzie quotes in regard to him from the 
German annalist Archenoiz' work on England (1788): — ** There exists 
in London an extraordinary man who for thirty years has been cele- 
brated in Kabbalistic records. He is named Cain Chenul Falk. A 
certain Count de Rautzow, lately dead in the service of P'rance, with the 
rank of Field- Marshal, certifies that he has seen this Falk in Brunswick, 
and that evocations of spirits took place in the presence of credible 
witnesses." These •' spirits " were Elementals, whom I'alk brought into 



GLOSSARY 119 

view by tlie conjurations used by every Kabbalist. His son, Johann 
Friedrich Falk, likewise a Jew, was also a Kabbalist of repute, and was 
once the head of a Kabbalistic college in London. His occupation was 
that of a jeweller and appraiser of diamonds, and he was a wealthy man. 
To this day the mystic writings and rare Kabbalistic works bequeathed 
by him to a trustee may be perused in a certain half-public library in 
London, by every genuine student of Occultism. P'alk's own writings 
are all still in MS., and some in cypher. 

Farbauti (Scand,), A giant in the Edda ; lit., "the oarsman'*; the 
father of Loki, whose mother was the giantess Laufey (leafy isle) ; a 
genealogy which makes W. S. \V. Anson remark in Asgard and the 

Gods that probably the oarsman or Farbauti '* was the giant 

who saved himself from the flood in a boat, and the latter (Laufey) the 
island to which he rowed " — which is an additional variation of the 
Deluge. 

Fargard (Zend,). A section or chapter of verses in the Vendidad of 
the Farsis. 

Farvarshi (Mazd.j. The same as Ferouer, or the opposite (as con- 
trasted) double. The spiritual counterpart of the still more spiritual 
original. Thus, Ahriman is the Ferouer or the Farvarshi of Ormuzd — 
^^ demon est dens inversus'' — Satan of God. Michael the Archangel, ** he 
like god ", is a Ferouer of that god. A Farvarshi is the shadowy or dark 
side of a Deity — or its darker lining. 

Ferho (Gnost.). The highest and greatest creative power with the 
Nazarene Gnostics. (Codex Nazaraus,) 

Fetahil (Gr.). The lower creator, in the same Codex. 

First Point. Mctapliysically the first point of manifestation, the 
germ of primeval differentiation, or the point in the infinite Circle ** whose 
centre is everywhere, and circumference nowliere ". The Point is the 
Logos. 

Fire (Living). A figure of speech to denote deity, the ** One " life. 
A theurgic term, used later by the Rosicrucians. The symbol of the 
living fire is the sun, certain of whose rays develope the fire of life in a diseased 
body, impart the knowledge of the future to the sluggish mind, and stimulate 
to active function a certain psychic and generally dormant faculty in 
man. The meaning is very occult. 

Fire- Philosophers. The name given to the Hermetists and Alche- 
mists of the Middle Ages, and also to the Rosicrucians. The latter, the 
successors of the Theurgists, regarded lire as the symbol of Deity. It 
was the source, not only of material atoms, but the container of the 
spiritual and psychic Forces energizing them. J^roadly analyzed, fire is 



120 THEOSUI'HICAI. 

a triple principle ; esoterically, a septenary, as arc all the rest of the 
Elements. As man is composed of Spirit, Soul and Body, plus a four- 
fold aspect : so is Fire. As in the works of Robert Fludd (de Fluctibus) 
one of the famous Rosicrucians, Fire contains (i) a visible flame (Body) ; 
(2) an invisible, astral fire (Soul) ; and (3) Spirit. The four aspects are 
heat (life), light (mind), electricity (Kamic, or molecular powers) and the 
Synthetic Essence, beyond Spirit, or the radical cause of its existence and 
manifestation. For the Hermetist or Rosicrucian, when a flame is 
extinct on the objective plane it has only passed from the seen world 
unto the unseen, from the knowable into the unknowable. 

Fifty Gates of Wisdom (Kab.), The number is a blind, and there 
are really 49 gates, for Moses, than whom tlie Jewish world has no 
I higher adept, reached, according to the Kabbalas, and passed only the 
i 49th. These *' gates " typify the different planes of Being or Ens. 
They are thus the ** gates " of Life and the ** gates " of understanding or 
degrees of occult knowledge. These 49 (or 50) gates correspond to the 
seven gates in the seven caves of Initiation into the Mysteries of Mithra 
(see Celsus and Kircher ). The division of the 50 gates into five 
chief gates, each including ten — is again a blind. It is in the fourth gate 
of these five, from which begins, ending at the tenth, the world of Planets, 
thus making seven, corresponding to the seven lower Sephiroth — that the 
key to their meaning lies hidden. They are also called the 'Agates of 
Binah " or understanding. 

Fla^S (Herm.), A name given by Paracelsus to a particular kind of 
guardian angels or genii. 

Flame (Holy), The ** Holy Flame" is the name given by the 
Eastern Asiatic Kabbalists (Semites) to the Anima Mundi, the '* world- 
soul ". The Initiates were called the ** Sons of the Holy Flame '*. 

Fludd (Robert), generally known as Robcrtus de Fluctibus, the chief of 
the *' Philosophers by Fire ". A celebrated English Hermetist of the 
sixteenth century, and a voluminous writer. He wrote on the essence 
of gold and other mystic and occult subjects. 

Fluvii Transitus (Lat,). Or crossing of the River (Chebar). 
Cornelius Agrippa gives this alphabet. In the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, 
Vol. III., part 2, 1890, which work is the Report of the proceed- 
ings of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Freemasons, No. 2076, will 
be found copies of this alphabet, and also the curious old letters called 
Melachim, and the Celestial alpiiabet, supplied by W. Wynn Westcott, 
P.M. This Lodge seems to be the only one in England which really 
does study *' the hidden mysteries of Nature and Science' in earnest. 

Fohat (Tib,). A term used to represent the active (male) potency of 



<;i.nSSAkV I2i 

the Sakti (female reproductive power) in nature. The essence of cosmic 
electricity. An occult Tibetan term for Daiviprakriti, primordial li^ht : 
and in the universe of manifestation the ever-present electrical energy 
and ceaseless destructive and formative power. I^soterically, it is the 
same, Fohat being the universal propelling \'ital l^\)rce, at once the 
propeller and the resultant. 

Foh-tchou (Chin.). Lit., *' Ihiddha's Lord *', meaning, however, simply 
the teacher of the doctrines of lUiddha. Foh means a (uiru who lives 
generally in a temple of Sakyanumi Buddha — the Foh-Maeyu. 

Pons YitflB (Lat.j. A work of Ibn Gebirol, the Arabian Jewish 
philosopher of the Xlth century, who called it Me-^^or Hayyi'iu or the 
•' Fountain of Life" (Ik Materia Uuivcrsali and Fous Vitic ), The Western 
Kabbalists have proclaimed it a really Kabbalistic work. Several MSS., 
Latin and Hebrew, of this wonderful production have been discovered 
by scholars in public libraries; among others one by Munk, in 1802. 
The Latin name of ibn Gebirol was Avicebron, a name well-known to all 
Oriental scholars. 

Four Animals. The synd)olical animals of the visi(m of iCzekiel (the 
Mercahah). ** With the first Christians the celebration of the Mysteries 
of the Faith was accompanied by the burning of seven lights, with 
incense, the Trishagion, and the reading of the book of the gospels, upon 
which was wrought, both on covers and pages, the winged man, lion, bull, 
and eagle" (Qabbalah^ by Isaac Myer, LL.J^.). To this day these 
animals are represented along with the four Lvangelists and prefixing 
their respective gospels in the editions of the Cireek Church. ICach 
represents one of the four lower classes of worlds or planes, into the 
similitude of which each pfnonality is cast. Thus the Lagle (associated 
with St. John) represents cosmic Spirit or luher, the all-piercing ICye of the 
Seer ; the Bull of St. Luke, the waters of Life, the all-generating element 
and cosmic strength : the Lion of St. NLark, fierce energy, undaunted 
courage and cosmic hre ; while the human Head or the Angel, which 
stands near St. Matthew is the synthesis of all three combined in the 
higher Intellect of man, and in cosmic Spirituality. All these symbols 
are Egyptian, Chaldean, and Indian. The Eagle, iiull and Lion-headed 
gods are plentiful, and all represented the same idea, whether in the 
b^gyptian, Chaldean, Indian or Jewish religions, but beginning with the 
Astral body they went no higher than the cosmic Spirit or the Higher 
Manas- Atma-Buddiii, or Absolute Spirit and Spiritual Soul its vehick', 
being incapable of being symbolised by concrete imagers. 

Fravasham {Zcndj. Absolute spirit. 

Freya or Frigga (Siami.J. In the Edda, Frigga is the mother of the 
LTods like Aditi in the Vcdab. She is identical with the Northern Frca of 



122 THEOSOPHICAL 

the Germans, and in her lowest aspect was worshipped as tlie all- 
noiirishing Mother Earth. She was seated on her golden throne, formed 
of webs of golden light, with three divine virgins as her handmaidens 
and messengers, and was occupied with spinning golden threads with 
which to reward good men. She is I sis and Diana at the same time, for 
she is also Holda, the mighty huntress, and she is Ceres-Demeter, who 
protects agriculture — the moon and nature. 

Frost Oiants or Hrimthurses (Scand.). They are the great builders, 
the Cyclopes and Titans of the Norsemen, and play a prominent part in 
the Edda, It is they who build the strong wall round Asgard (the Scan- 
dinavian Olympus) to protect it from the Jotuns, the wicked giants. 

Fylfot (Scand,). A weapon of Thor, like the Swastika, or the Jaina, 
the four-footed cross ; generally called ** Thor's Hammer ". 



GLOSSARY 123 



G. 

(jr, — The seventh letter in the English alphabet. *'ln Greek, Chaldean, 
Syriac, Hebrew, Assyrian, Samaritan, Etrurian, Coptic, in the modern 
Romaic and Gothic, it occupies the third place in the alphabet, while in 
Cyrillic, Glagolitic, Croat, Russian, Servian and Wallachian, it stands 
fourth." As the name of *'god" begins with this letter (in Syriac, ^ad; 
Swedish, ^ud : German, gott ; English, god; Persian, gadaj etc., etc.), 
there is an occult reason for this which only the students of esoteric 
philosophy and of the Secret Doctrine, explained esoterically, will understand 
thoroughly ; it refers to the three logoi-tlm last,tiie Elohim^ and the emana- 
tion of the latter, the androgynous Adam Kadmon. All these peoples have 
derived the name of ** god " from their respective traditions, the more or 
less clear echoes of the esoteric tradition. Spoken and " Silent Speech " 
(writing) are a **gift of the gods", say all the national traditions, from 
the old Aryan Sanskrit-speaking people who claim that their alphabet, tlie 
Devandgari (///., the language of the dcvas or gods) was given to them from 
heaven, down to the Jews, who speak of an alphabet, the parent of the 
one which has survived, as having been a celestial and mystical symbolism 
given by the angels to the patriarchs. Hence, every letter had its 
manifold meaning. A symbol itself of a celestial being and objects, it 
was in its turn represented on earth by like corresponding objects whose 
form symbolised the shape of the letter. The present letter, called in 
Hebrew gimcl and symbolised by a long camel's neck, or rather a serpent 
erect, is associated with the third sacred divine name, Ghadol or Magnus 
(great). Its numeral is four, the Tetragrammaton and the sacred Tctraktys; 
hence its sacredness. With other people it stood for 400 and with a dash 
over it, for 400,000. 

Oabriel. According to the Gnostics, the '* Spirit " or Christos, the 
** messenger of life ", and Gabriel are one. The former ** is called some- 
times the Angel Gabriel — in Hebrew * the mighty one of God '," and took 
with the Gnostics the place oi the Logos, while the Holy Spirit was 
considered one with the JEon Life (see Irenirns I., xii.). Therefore 
we find Theodoret saying (in Haret, Fab.^ H., vii.) : '* The heretics 
agree with us (Christians) respecting the beginning of all things. . . . 
but they say there is not one Christ (God), hut one above and the other below. 
And this last formerly divelt in many ; but the Jesus, they at one time say 
is from God, at another they call him a Spirit." The key to this is given 



124- . thkosohhicaL 

in the esoteric philosophy. The ** spirit " with the ( jnostics was a 
female potency exoterically, it was the ray proceeding from the Higher 
Manas, the Efro^ and that which the Esotericists refer to as rhe Kama- 
Manas or the lower personal Ego^ which is radiated in every human 
entity by the Higher Ego or Christos, the god within us. Therefore, they 
were right in saying : '* there is not one Christ, but one above and the 
other below ". Every student of Occultism will understand this, and also 
that Gabriel — or *'the mighty one of (3od " — is one with the Higher Ego. 
(See I sis Unveiled.) 

Gaea C6>J. Primordial Matter in the Cosmogony of Hesiod ; Earth, 
as some think ; the wife of Ouranos, the sky or heavens. The female 
perstmage of the primeval Trinity, composed of Ouranos, Ga^a and Eros. 

Galfarillus. An Alchemist and philosopher who lived in the middle 
of the seventeenth century. He is the first philosopher known to maintain 
that every natural object (e.g., plants, living creatures, etc.), when 
burned, retained its form in its ashes and that it could be raised 
again from them. This claim was justified by the eminent chemist Du 
Chesne, and after him Kircher, Digby and Vallemont have assured 
themselves of the fact, by demonstrating that the astral forms of burned 
plants could be raised from their ashes. A receipt for raising such 
astral phantoms of flowers is given in a work of Oetinger, Thoughts on the 
Birth and Generation of Things. 

Oaganeswara (Sk.). *' Lord of the Sky ", a name of Garuda. 

Oai-hinnom (Heb.J. The name of Hell in the Talmud. 
Q^mhsXrin (Scand.J. The name of Hermodur's *' magic staff " in the 
Edda . 

Oanadevas (Sk.J. A certain class of celestial Beings who are said to 
inhabit Maharloka. They are the rulers of our Kalpa (Cycle) and there- 
fore termed Kalpadhikarins, or Lord of the Kalpas. They last only **One 
Day " of Brahma. 

Oandapada (Sk.J, A celebrated Brahman teacher, the author of the 
Commentaries on the Sankhya Karika, Mandnkya Upanishad, and other 
works. . 

Oandhara (Sk.). A musical note of great occult power in the Hindu 
gamut — the third of the diatonic scale. 

Gandharva (Sk.), The celestial choristers and musicians of India. In 

the Vedas these deities reveal the secrets of heaven and earth and esoteric 

science to mortals. They had charge of the sacred Soma plant and its 

juice, the ambrosia drunk in the temple which gives '* omniscience ''. 

Gan-Eden (Heb.). Also Gandnmyas. (See "Eden ".) 

Ganesa (Sk.). The ele])hant-headLd God of \\ isdom, the .^on of Siva. 



GLOSSARY 125 

He is llie same as tlie K^^yptian riioth-Hmnes. ami Anul)is or Her- 
iiianubis {q.v.). The legend shows him as having lost his human head, 
which was replaced by that of an elephant. 

Oanga fSk.). The Ganges, the principal sacred river in India. There 
are two versions of its myth : one relates that Ganga (the goddess) having 
transformed herself into a rivrr, Hows from the big toe of Vishnu ; the 
other, that the Gangn drops from the ear of Siva into the Anavatapta 
lake, ^thence passes out, through the mouth of the silver cow (f^ouiukhi }, 
crosses alMEastern India and falls into the Southern Ocean. ** An 
'heretical superstition'", remarks Mr. Kitel in his Sanskrit, Chinese 
Dictionary ** ascribes to the waters of the Ganges sin-cleansing fewer '\ 
No more a ** superstition " one would say, than the belief that the 
waters of Baptism and the Jordan have *' sin-cleansing power ". 

Oangadw&ra fSkJ. ** The gate or door of the Ganges ", literally: 
the name of a town now called Mardwar, at the foot of the Himalayas. 

Oanji (Skj, A renowned Sorcerer in the time of Kjlsyapa Buddha 
(a predecessor of (lautama). Gangi was regarded as an incarnation of 
Apahlia, the Naga (Serpent), the guardian Spirit of the Sources of 
Subhavastu, a river in IJdyjina. Apalala is said to have been converted 
by Gautama Buddha, to the good Law, and become an Arhat. The 
allegory of the name is comprehensible : all the Adepts and Initiates 
were called nngas, " Serpents of Wisdom '*. 

Oaninnanse. A Singhalese priest who has not yet been ordained — from 
gana, an assemblage or brotherhood. The higher ordained priests '*are 
called terumianse from the Pali thero, an elder " (Hardy). 

Garm (Scand.). The Cerberus of the Edda. This monstrous dog 
lived in the Gnypa cavern in front of the dwelling of Hel, the goddess of 
the nether-world. 

Garuda (Sk.). A gigantic bird in the Rmnayana, the steed of Vishnu. 
Esoterically — the symbol of the great Cycle. 

Gatha (Sk.). Metrical chants or hymns, consisting of moral aphorisms. 
A gatha of thirty-two words is called Aryagiti. 

Gati (Sk.). The six (esoterically seven) conditions of sentient existence. 
These are divided into two groups : the three higher and the three lower 
paths. To the former belong the devas, the asuras and (immortal) men ; 
to the latter (in exoteric teachings) creatures in hell, pretas or hungry 
demons, and animals. Explained esoterically^ however, the last three are 
the personalities in Kamaloka, elcmentals and animals. The seventh 
mode of existence is that of the Nirmanakaya (q-v,), 

Gatra (Sk.). Lit., the limbs (of Brahma) from which the ** mind-born " 
sons, the seven Kumaras, were born. 



126 THEOSOPHICAL 

Gautama fSk.). The Prince of Kapilavastu, son of Sudhodana, the 
Sakya kin^^^ of a small realm on the borders of Nepaul, born in the 
seventh century B.C., now called the ** Saviour of the World ". Gautama 
or Gotama was the sacerdotal name of the Sakya family, and Sidhartha 
was Buddha's name before he became a Buddha. Sakya Muni, means the 
Saint of the Sakya family. Born a simple mortal he rose to Buddhaship 
through his own personal and unaided merit. A man — verily greater 
than any god ! 

Gaya fSk.J. Ancient city of Magadha, a little north-west of the 
modern Gayah. It is at the former that Sakyamuni reached his Buddha- 
ship, under the famous Bodhi-tree, Bodhidrnma, 

Gay&tri (Sk.)^ also Savitri, A most sacred verse, addressed to the 
Sun, in the Rig- Veda, which the Brahmans have to repeat mentally 
every morn and eve during their devotions. 

Geber (Heh,) or Gihhorim, " Mighty men " ; the same as the Kabirim, 
In heaven, they are regarded as powerful angels, on earth as the giants 
mentioned in chapter vi. of Genesis, 

Gebirol, Salomon Ben Jehiidah, Called in literature Avicebron. An 
Israelite by birth, a philosopher, poet and Kabbalist, a voluminous writer 
and a mystic. He was born in the eleventh century at Malaga (1021), 
educated at Saragossa, and died at Valencia in 1070, murdered by a 
Mahommedan. His fellow-religionists called him Salomon the Sephardi, 
or the Spaniard, and the Arabs, Abu Ayyub Suleiman ben ya'hya Ibn 
Dgebirol, whilst the scholastics named him Avicebron. (See Myer's 
Qabbalah.) Ibn Gebirol was certainly one of the greatest philosophers 
and scholars of his age. He wrote much in Arabic and most of his MSS. 
have been preserved. His greatest work appears to be the Megdr 
Hayyim, i,e,, the Fountain of Life, ** one of the earliest exposures of the 
secrets of the Speculative Kabbalah ", as his biographer informs us. 
(See '* Fons Vitae ".) 

Geburah (Heh,), A Kabbalistic term ; the fifth Sephira, a female and 
passive potency, meaning severity and power ; from it is named the 
Pillar of Severity, [w. w. w.] 

Gedulah (Heh,), Another name for the Sephira Chesed, 

Gehenna, in Hebrew Hinnom, No hell at all, but a valley near 
Jerusalem, where Israelites immolated their children to Moloch. In that 
valley a place named Tophet was situated, where a fire was perpetually 
preserved for sanitary purposes. The prophet Jeremiah informs us that 
his countrymen, the Jews, used to sacrifice their children on that spot. 

Gehs (Zend), Parsi prayers. 

Gelukpa (Tib,), ** Yellow Caps" literally; the highest and most 



GLOSSARY 127 

orthodox Buddhist sect in Tibet, the antithesis of the Du(!(pa ('* Red 
Caps "), the old '* devil worshippers ". 

Gemara (Heh.), The latter portion of the Jewish Talmud, begun by 
Rabbi Ashi and completed by Rabbis Mar and Meremar, about 300 a.d. 
Tw. w. w.l 

Lit., to finish. It is a commentary on the Mishna. 

Gematria (Heh.), A division of the practical Kabbalah. It shows 
the numerical value of Hebrew words by summing up the values of the 
letters composing them ; and further, it shows by this means, analogies 
between words and phrases, [w. w. w.] 

One of the methods (arithmetical) for extracting the hidden meaning 
from letters, words and sentences. 

Gems, Three precious. In Southern Buddhism these are the sacred 
books, the Buddhas and the priesthood. In Northern Buddhism and its 
secret schools, the Buddha, his sacred teachings, and the Narjols 
(Buddhas of Compassion). 

Genesis. The whole of the Book of Genesis down to the death of Joseph, 
is found to be a hardly altered version of the Cosmogony of the Chaldeans, 
as is now repeatedly proven from the Assyrian tiles. The first three 
chapters are transcribed from the allegorical narratives of the beginnings 
common to all nations. Chapters four and ^\/e are a new allegorical 
adaptation of the same narration in the secret Book of Numbers; chapter 
six is an astronomical narrative of the Solar year and the seven cosmocra- 
tores from the Egyptian original of the Pymander and the symbolical 
visions of a series of £«o^V/i/oi (Seers) — from whom came also t lie Book 
of Enoch. The beginning of Exodus, and the story of Moses is that of 
the Babylonian Sargon, who having flourished (as even that unwilling 
authority Dr. Sayce tells us) 3750 B.C. preceded the Jewish lawgiver 
by almost 2300 years. (See Secret Doctrine^ vol. II., pp. 691 et seq,) 
Nevertheless, Genesis is an undeniably esoteric work. It has not 
borrowed, nor has it disfigured the universal symbols and teachings on 
the lines of which it was written, but simply adapted the eternal truths 
to its own national spirit and clothed them in cunning allegories compre- 
hensible onlv to its Kabbalists and Initiates. The Gnostics have done 
the same, each sect in its own way, as thousands of years before, India, 
Egypt, Chaldea and Greece, had also dressed the same incommunicable 
truths each in its own national garb. The key and solution to all such 
narratives can be found only in the esoteric teachings. 

Genii (Lat,J. A name for ^Eons, or angels, with the Gnostics. The 
names of their hierarchies and classes are simply legion. 

Oeonic Period. The era of the Geonim may be found mentioned in 



128 THEOSOPHICAL 

works treating; of the Kabbalah ; the ninth century a.d. is implied. 
[\v. \v. W.j 

Gharma (Sk.), A title of Karttikeya, the Indian god of war and the 
Kuniara born of Siva's drop of sweat that fell into the Ganges. 

Ghocha (Sk.). Lit., '* the miraculous \'oice ". The name of a great 
Arhat, the author of Ahhidharmnmrita Shastra, who restored sight to a 
!>hnd man l)y anointing his eyes with the tears of the audience moved by 
his ((ihocha's) supernatural eloquence. 

Gil^oolem ( Heh.J. The cycle of rebirths with the Hebrew Kabbalists ; 
with the orthodox KabbaHsts, the ** whirling of the soul " after death, 
which finds no rest until it reaches Palestine, the *' promised land ", and 
its body is buried there. 

Gimil (Scand.J, ** The Cave of Gimil " or Wingolf. A kind of Heaven 
or Paradise, or perhaps a New Jerusalem, built !>y the ** Strong and 
Mighty God " who remains nameless in the /t dci a, tihovc the Field of 
Ida, and after the new earth rose out of the waters. 

Ginnunga^ap (Scand.J. The '* cup of illusion " Hterally ; the abyss of 
the great deep,or the shoreless, beginningless, and endless, yawning gulf; 
which in esoteric parlance we call the " World's Matrix '', the primordial 
living space. The cup that contains the universe, hence the ** cup of 
illusion ". 

Giol (Scand.J. The Styx, the river Giol which had to be crossed 
before the nether- world was reached, or the cold Kingdom of Hel. It 
was spanned by a gold-covered bridge, which led to the gigantic iron 
fence that encircles the palace of the Goddess of the Under-World or 
Hel. 

Qns, (Scand.J. One of the three handmaidens of the goddess Frey a. 
She is a female Mercury who bears her mistress' messages into all parts 
of the world. 

Gnana (Sk.J. Knowledge as applied to the esoteric sciences. 

Gnan Devas (Sk.J. Lit., *' the gods of knowledge". The higher 
classes of gods or devas ; the " mind-born " sons of Brahma, and others 
including the Manasa-piiiras (the Sons of Intellect). Esoterically, our 
reincarnating Egos. 

Gnanasakti (Sk.). The power of true knowledge, one of the seven 
great forces in Nature (six, exoterically). 

Gnatha (Sk.J. The Kosmic Ego ; the conscious, intelligent Soul of 
Kosmos. 

Gnomes (Alch.J. The Rosicrucian name for the mineral and earth 
elementals. 



GLOSSARY 129 

Gnosis (Gr.), Lit., " knowledge ". The technical term used by the 
schools of religious philosophy, both before and during the first centuries 
of so-called Christianity, to denote the object of their enquiry. This 
Spiritual and Sacred Knowledge, the Gupta Vidyt'i of the Hindus, could 
only be obtained by Initiation into Spiritual Mysteries of which the 
ceremonial ** Mysteries" were a type. 

Gnostics (Gr,), The philosophers who formulated and taught the 
Gnosis or Knowledge (q.v.). They flourished in the first three centuries 
of the Christian era : the following were eminent, Valentinus, Basilides, 
Marcion, Simon Magus, etc. [w. vv. w.] 

Gnypa (Scand.), The cavern watched by the dog Garm (q.v.), 

Gogard (Zend.). The Tree of Life in the Avesia. 

Golden Age. The ancients divided the life cycle into the Golden, 
Silver, Bronze and Iron Ages. The Golden was an age of primeval 
purity, simplicity and general happiness. 

Gonpa (Tib.) A temple or monastery ; a Lamasery. 
Gopis (Sk.J. Shepherdesses — the playmates and companions of 
Krishna, among whom was his wife Raddha. 

Gossain (Sk.). The name of a certain class of ascetics in India. 

Great Age. There were several *' great ages " mentioned by the 
ancients. In India it embraced the whole Maha-manvantara, the **age of 
Brahma", each **Day " of which represents the life cycle of a chain— /.^. 
it embraces a period of seven Rounds. (See Esoteric Buddhism, by A. P. 
Sinnett.) Thus while a '* Day " and a ** Night" represent, as Manvantara 
and Pralaya, 8,640,000,000 years, an '* age " lasts through a period of 
311,040,000,000,000 years ; after which the Pralaya, or dissolution of the 
universe, becomes universal. With the Egyptians and Greeks the 
** great age " referred only to the tropical or sidereal year, the duration of 
which is 25,868 solar years. Of the complete age — that of the gods — 
they say nothing, as it was a matter to be discussed and divulged only in 
the Mysteries, during the initiating ceremonies. The '* great age" of the 
Chaldees was the same in figures as that of the Hindus. 

Grihastha (Sk.) Lit., ** a householder ", " one who lives in a house 
with his family ". A Brahman *' family priest " in popular rendering, 
and the sarcerdotal hierarchy of the Hindus. 

Guardian Wall. A suggestive name given to the host of translated 
adepts (Narjols) or the Saints collectively, who are supposed to watch 
over, help and protect Humanity. This is the so-called ** Nirmanakaya " 
doctrine in Northern mystic Buddhism. (See Voice of the Silence, Part 
III.) 

Guff (Heh.). Body ; physical form ; also written Gof. 

I 



130 THF.OSOPHICAL 

Ouhya (Sk,)» Concealed, secret. 

Guhya Yidy& (Sk,), The secret knowledge of mystic Mantras. 

OuUwei^ (Scand,). The personification of the ** golden " ore. It is 
said in the Edda that during the Golden Age, when lust for gold and 
wealth was yet unknown to man, ** when the gods played with golden 
disks, and no passion disturbed the rapture of mere existence ", the 
whole earth was happy. But, no sooner does ** GuUweig (Gold ore) the 
bewitching enchantress come, who, thrice cast into the fire, arises each 
time more beautiful than before, and fills the souls of gods and men with 
unappeasable longing ", than all became changed. It is then that the 
Norns, the Past, Present and Future, entered into being, the blessed 
peace of childhood's dreams passed away and Sin came into existence 
with all its evil consequences. (Asgard and the Gods,) 

Ounas (Sk), Qualities, attributes (See ** Triguna ") ; a thread, also a 
cord. 

Gunavat (Sk,), That which is endowed with qualities. 

Gupta Yidy& (Sk,). The same as Guhya Vidya ; Esoteric or Secret 
Science ; knowledge. 

Guru (Sk.), Spiritual Teacher ; a master in metaphysical and ethical 
doctrines ; used also for a teacher of any science. 

Guru Deva (Sk,), Lit,y ** divine Master". 

Gyan-Ben-Gi&n (Pers,), The King of the Peris, the Sylphs, in the old 
mythology of Iran. 

Gyges (Gr.), ** The ring of Gyges " has become a familiar metaphor 
in European literature. Gyges was a Lydian who, after murdering the 
King Candaules, married his widow. Plato tells us that Gyges 
descended once into a chasm of the earth and discovered a brazen 
horse, within whose open side was the skeleton of a man who had a 
brazen ring on his finger. This ring when placed on his own finger 
made him invisible. 

GymnOBOphists (Gr.), The name given by Hellenic writers to a class 
of naked or ** air-clad " mendicants ; ascetics in India, extremely learned 
and endowed with great mystic powers. It is easy to recognise in these 
gymnosophists the Hindu Aranyaka of old, the learned yogis and ascetic- 
philosophers who retired to the jungle and forest, there to reach, through 
great austerities, superhuman knowledge and experience. 

Gyn (Tib.). Knowledge acquired under the tuition of an adept 
teacher or guru. 



GLOSSARY 131 



H. 

11 . — The eighth letter and aspirate of the English alphabet, and also 
the eighth in the Hebrew. As a Latin numeral it signifies 200, and 
with the addition of a dash 200,000 ; in the Hebrew alphabet Cheth is 
equivalent to //, corresponds to ei^^ht, and is symbolised by a Fence and 
Venus according to Seyffarth, being in affinity and connected with He, 
and therefore with the opening or womb. It is pre-eminently a Yonic 
letter. 

Ha (Sk,), A magic syllable used in sacred formulae ; it represents 
the power of Akdsa Sakti. Its efficacy lies in the expirational accent 
and the sound produced. 

Habal de Oarmin (HebJ. According to the Kabbalah this is the 
Resurrection Body : a tzeUm image or demooth similitude to the deceased 
man; an inner fundamental spiritual type remaining after death. It is 
the ** Spirit of the Bones " mentioned in Daniel and Isaiah and the 
Psalms, and is referred to in the Vision of Ezekiel about the clothing of 
the dry bones with life : consult C. de Leiningen on the Kabbalah, 
T.P.S. Pamphlet, Vol. II., No. 18. [w. w. w.] 

Hachoser (Heh.), Lit,, ** reflected Lights " ; a name for the minor 
or inferior powers, in the Kabbalah. 

Hades (Gr.), or Aides. The ** invisible ", i,e,, the land of the shadows, 
one of whose regions was Tartarus, a place of complete darkness, like 
the region of profound dreamless sleep in the Egyptian Amenti. 
Judging by the allegorical descr^tion of the various punishments 
inflicted therein, the place was purely Karmic. Neither Hades nor 
Amenti were the hell still preached by some retrograde priests and 
clergymen ; but whether represented by the Elysian Fields or by Tar- 
tarus, Hades was a place of retributive justice and no more. This 
could only be reached by crossing the river to the ** other shore'*, i,e. 
by crossing the river Death, and being once more reborn, for weal or for 
woe. As well expressed in Egyptian Belief: ** The story of Charon, the 
ferryman (of the Styx) is to be found not only in Homer, but in the 
poetry of many lands. The River must be crossed before gaining the 
Isles of the Blest. The Ritual of Egypt described a Charon and his boat 
long ages before Homer. He is Khu-en-ua, the hawk-headed steersman." 
(See **Amenti ", ** Hel " and ** Happy Fields ".) 



132 THEOSOPHICAL 

Ha^adah (Heb.), A name given to parts of the Talmud which are 
legendary, [w. w. w.J 

Hahnir (Scand.)^ or Honir. One of the three mighty gods (Odin, 
Hahnir and Lodur) who, while wandering on earth, found lying on the 
sea-shore two human forms, motionless, speechless, and senseless. 
Odin gave them souls; Hahnir, motion and senses; and Lodur, bloom- 
ing complexions. Thus were men created. 

Haima (Heb.), The same as the Sanskrit hiranya (golden), as **the 
golden Egg " Hirauyagarbha, 

Hair. Occult philosophy considers the hair (whether human or 
animal) as the natural receptacle and retainer ol the vital essence which 
often escapes with other emanations from the body. It is closeh* 
connected with many of the brain functions — for instance memory. 
With the ancient Israelites the cutting of the hair and beard was a sign 
of defilement, and *' the Lord said unto Moses. . . They shall not 
make baldness upon their head ", etc. (Lev. xxi., 1-5.) ** Baldness ", 
whether natural or artificial, was a sign of calamity, punishment, or 
grief, as when Isaiah (iii., 24) enumerates, ** instead of well-set hair 
baldness ", among the evils that are ready to befall the chosen people. 
And again, ** On all their heads baldness and every beard cut " (Ibid, 
XV., 2). The Nazarite was ordered to let his hair and beard grow, and 
never to permit a razor to touch them. With the Egyptians and 
Buddhists it was only the initiated priest or ascetic to whom life is a 
burden, who shaved. The Egyptian priest was supposed to have 
become master of his body, and hence shaved his head for cleanliness ; 
yet the Ilierophants wore their hair long. The Buddhist still shaves 
his head to this day — as sign of scorn for life and health. Yet Buddha, 
after shaving his hair when he first became a mendicant, let it grow 
again and is ahvays represented with the top-knot of a Yogi. The 
Hindu priests and Brahmins, and almost all the castes, shave the rest of 
the head but leave a long lock to grow from the centre of the crown. 
The ascetics of India wear their hair long, and so do the war-like 
Sikhs, and almost all the Mongolian peoples. At Byzantium and 
Rhodes the shaving of the beard was prohibited by law, and in Sparta 
the cutting of the beard was a mark of slavery and servitude. Among 
the Scandinavians, we are told, it was considered a disgrace, ** a mark of 
infamy ", to cut off the hair. The whole population of the island of 
Ceylon (the Buddhist Singhalese) wear their hair long. So do the 
Russian, Greek and Armenian clergy, and monks. Jesus and the 
Apostles are always represented with their hair long, but fashion in 
Christendom proved stronger than Christianity, the old ecclesiastical 
rules (Constit. Apost. lib. I, c. 3) enjoining the clergy **to wear their 



GLOSSARY 133 

hair and beards long". (See Riddle's Ecclesiastical Antiquities,) The 
Templars were commanded to wear their beards long. Samson wore his 
hair long, and the biblical allegory shows that health and strength and 
the very life are connected with the length of the hair. If a cat is 
shaved it will die in nine cases out of ten. A dog whose coat is not 
interfered with lives longer and is more intelligent than one whose 
coat is shaven. Many old people as they lose their hair lose much of 
their memory and become weaker. While the life of the Yogis is 
proverbially long, the Buddhist priests (of Ceylon and elsewhere) are not 
generally long-lived. Mussulmen shave their heads but wear their 
beards ; and as their head is always covered, the danger is less. 

Hajaschar (Heb.). The Light Forces in the Kabbalah ; the ** Powers 
of Light ", which are the creative but inferior forces. 

Hakem. Lit., ** the Wise One *', the Messiah to come, of the Druzes 
or the ** Disciples of Hamsa ". 

Hakim (Amb.J. A doctor, ih all the Eastern countries, from Asia 
Minor to India. 

Halaohah (Heh.), A name given to parts of the Talmud, which are 
arguments on points of doctrine ; the word means ** rule ". [w. w. w.] 

Hallucination. A state produced sometimes by physiological dis- 
orders, sometimes by mediumship, and at others by drunkenness. But 
the cause that produces the visions has to be sought deeper than 
physiology. All such visions, especially when produced through 
mediumship, are preceded by a relaxation of the nervous system, in- 
variably generating an abnormal magnetic condition which attracts to 
the sufferer waves of astral light. It is the latter that furnishes the 
various hallucinations. These, however, are not always what physicians 
would make them, empty and unreal dreams. No one can see that 
which does not exist — i,e., which is not impressed— ^in or on the astral 
waves. A Seer may, however, perceive objects and scenes (whether 
past, present, or future) which have no relation whatever to himself, and 
also perceive several things entirely disconnected with each other at one 
and the same time, thus producing the most grotesque and absurd com- 
binations. Both drunkard and Seer, medium and Adept, see their 
respective visions in the Astral Light ; but while the drunkard, the 
madman, and the untrained medium, or one suffering from brain-fever, 
see, because they cannot help it, and evoke the jumbled visions uncon- 
sciously to themselves, the Adept and the trained Seer have the choice 
and the control of such visions. They know where to fix their gaze, 
how to steady the scenes they want to observe, and how to see beyond 
the upper outward layers of the Astral Light. With the former such 



134 THROROPHtCAL 

glimpses into the waws are hallucinations : with the latter they become 
the faithful reproduction of what actually has been, is, or will be, taking 
pince. The glimpses at ranijom caught by the medium, and his flicker- 
ing visions in the deceptive light, are transformed under the guiding 
wil! of the Adept and Seer into steady pictures, the truthful representa- 
tions of that which he wills to come within the focus of his perception. 

H&msa or Hansa (Sk.), " Swan or goose ", according to the Oriental- 
ists ; a mystical bird in Occultism analogous lo the Rosicnician Pelican. 
The sacred mystic name which, when preceded by that of Kala (infinite 
time), i.e. Kalahaiisa, is a name of Parabrahm ; meaning the " Bird out of 
space and time". Hence Brahm^ (male)iscaIledHa«siJ t'aAana "the Vehicle 
of Hansa " (the Bikd). We find the same idea in the Zohar, where Ain 
Sitph (the endless and infinite) is said to descend into the universe, for 
purposes of manifestation, using Adam Kadmon (Humanity) as a 
chariot or vehicle. 

Hamsa (Arab.). The founder of the mystic sect of the Druzes of 
Mount Lebanon. (See " Druzes "■) 

Hangsa (Sk.). A mystic syllable standing for evolution, and meaning 
in its literal sense " I am he ", or Ahamsa. 

Hansa (Sk.). The name, according to the Bhiigavala Purdna, of the 
" One Caste " when there were as yet no varieties of caste, but verily 
" one Veda, one Deity and one Caste". 

Hanuman (Si.J. The monkey god of the finwa^-arto; the geturalissimo 
of Rama's army ; the son of Vayu, the god of the wind, and of a 
virtuous she-demon. Hanuman was the faithful ally of Rama and 
by his unparalleled audacity and wit, helped the Avatar of Vishnu to 
finally conquer tlie demon-king of Lanka, Ravana, who had carried ofif 
the beautiful Sita, Rama's wife, an outrage which led to the celebrated 
war described in the Hindu epic poem. 

Happy Fields. The name given by the Assy rio- Chaldeans to their 
Elysian Fields, which were intermingled with their Hades. As Mr. 
Boscawen tells his readers — " The Kingdom of the underworld was the 
realm of the god Hea, and the Hades of the Assyrian legends was 
placed in the underworld, and was ruled over by a goddess, Nin-Kigal, 
or ' the Lady of the Great Land '. She is also called Allat." A trans- 
lated inscription states: — ■' After the gifts of these present days, in the 
feasts of the land of the silver sky, tiie resplendent courts, the abode of 
blessedness, and in the light of the Happy Fields, may he dwell in hfe 
eternal, holy, in the presence of the gods who inhabit Assyria ". This is 
worthy of a Christian tumulary inscription. Ishtar, the beautiiul 
goddess, descended into Hades after her beloved Tammuz, and found 



GLOSSARY 135 

that this dark place of the shades had seven spheres and seven gates, at 
each of which she had to leave something belonging to her. 

Hara (Sk,), A title of the god Siva. 

Hare-Worship. The hare was sacred in many lands and especially 
among the Egyptians and Jews. Though the latter consider it an 
unclean, hoofed animal, unfit to eat, yet it was held sacred by some tribes. 
The reason for this was that in a certain species of hare the male suckled 
the little ones. It was thus considered to be androgynous or hermaphro- 
dite, and so typified an attribute of the Demiurge, or creative Loijos. The 
hare was a symbol of the moon, wherein the face of the prophet Moses is 
to be seen to this day, say the Jews. Moreover the moon is connected 
with the worship of Jehovah, a deity pre-eminently the god of generation, 
perhaps also for the same reason that Eros, the god of sexual love, is 
represented as carrying a hare. The hare was also sacred to Osiris. 
Lenormand writes that the hare ** has to be considered as the symbol of 
the Logos . . . the Logos ought to be hermaphrodite and we know 
that the hare is an androgynous type ". 

Hari (Sk.), A title of Vishnu, but used also for other gods. 

Harikesa (Sk,), The name of one of the seven rays of the Sun. 

Harivansa (Sk.), A portion of the Mahdhhdrata, a poem on the 
genealogy of Vishnu, or Hari. 

Harmachus (Gr,), The Egyptian Sphinx, called Har-em-chu or 
** Horns (the Sun) in the Horizon ", a form of Ra the sun-god ; esoterically 
the risen god. An inscription on a tablet reads : ** O blessed Ra- 
Harmachus ! Thou careerest by him in triumph. O shine, Amjun-Ra- 
Harmachus self-generated ". The temple of the Sphinx was discovered 
by Manette Bey close to the Sphinx, near the great Pyramid of Gizsh. 
All the Egyptologists agree in pronouncing the Sphinx and her temple 
the** oldest religious monument of the world" — at any rate of Egypt. 
** The principal chamber ", writes the late Mr. Fergusson ** in the form of a 
cross f is supported by piers, simple prisms of Syenite granite without 
base or capital . . no sculptures or inscriptions of any sort are found 
on the walls of this temple, no ornament or symbol nor any image in the 
sanctuary ". This proves the enormous antiquity of bjth the Sphinx 
and the temple. ** The great bearded Sphinx of the Pyramids of Gizeh 
is the symbol of Harmachus, the same as each Egyptian Pharaoh who 
bore, in the inscriptions, the name of * living form of the Solar Sphinx 
upon the Earth '," writes Brugsh Bey. And Renan recalls that ** at one 
time the Egyptians were said to have temples without sculptured 
images " (Bonwick). Not only the Egyptians but every nation of the 
earth began with temples devoid of idols and even of symbols. It is 



13^ THKOSOFHICAL 

only when the remembrance of the great abstract truths and of the 
primordial Wisdom taught to Immanity by the dynasties of the divine 
kings died out that men had to resort to mementos and symbology. In 
the story of Horus in some tablets of Edfou, Rouge found an inscription 
showing that the god had once assumed '* the shape of a human-headed 
lion to gain advantage over his enemy Typhon. Certainly Horus was 
so adored in Leontopolis. He is the real Sphinx. That accounts, too, 
for the lion figure being sometimes seen on each side of I sis. . . It 
was her child." (Bonwnck.) And yet the story of Harmachus, or Har- 
em-chu, is still left untold to the world, nor is it likely to be divulged to 
this generation. (See ** Sphinx ".) 

Harpocrates (Gr,), The child Womsox Ehoou represented with a finger 
on his mouth, the solar disk upon his head and golden hair. He is the 
** god of Silence" and of Mystery. (See ** Horus"). Harpocrates was also 
worshipped by both Greeks and Romans in Europe as a son of his, 

Harshana (Sk,), A deity presiding over offerings to the dead, or 
Srdddha. 

Harvfri (Eg, ), Horus, the elder : the ancient name of a solar god : the 
rising sun represented as a god reclining on a full-blown lotus, the symbol 
of the Universe. 

Haryaswas (Sk,), The Jive and ten thousand sons of Daksha, who 
instead of peopling the world as desired by their father, all became yogis, 
as advised by the mysterious sage Narada, and remained celibates. 
** They dispersed through the regions and have not returned." This 
means, according to the secret science, that they had all incarnated in 
mortals. The name is given to natural born mystics and celibates, who 
are said to be incarnations of the '* Haryaswas ". 

Hatchet. In the Egyptian Hieroglyphics a symbol of power, and also 
of death. The hatchet is called the ** Severer of the Knot " i.e., of 
marriage or any other tie. 

Hatha Yoga (Sk.), The lower form of Yoga practice ; one which uses 
physical means for purposes of spiritual self-development. The opposite 
oi Raja Yoga, 

Hathor (Eg,), The lower or infernal aspect of Isis, corresponding to 
the Hecate of Greek mythology. 

Hawk. The hieroglyphic and type of the Soul, The sense varies 
with the postures of the bird. Thus when lying as dead it represents 
the transition, larva state, or the passage from the state of one life to 
another. When its wings are opened it means that the defunct is resur- 
rected in Amenti and once more in conscious possession of his soul. 
The chrysalis has become a butterfly. 



GLOSSARY 137 

Hayo Bischat (Heb.). The Beast, in the Zohar : the Devil and Tempter. 
Esoterically our lower animal passions. 

Hay-yah (Heb.), One of the metaphysical human "Principles'*. 
Eastern Occultists divide men into seven such Principles ; Western 
Kabbalists, we are told, into three only — namely, Nephesh, Ruach and 
Neshamah. But in truth, this division is as loose and as mere an abbre- 
viation as our ** Body, Soul, Spirit ". For, in the Qabbalah of Myer 
{Zohar ii., 141, 6., Cremona Ed. ii., fol. 63 b., col. 251) it is stated that 
Neshamah or Spirit has three divisions, ** the highest being Yeliee-dah 
(Atmi) the middle, //ay -yah (Buddhi), and the last and third, the 
Neshamah, properly speaking (Manas) ". Then comes Mahshabah, 
Thought (the lower Manas, or conscious Personality), in which the higher 
then manifest themselves, thus making four ; this is followed by 
Tzelepti, Phantom of the Image [Kama-rupa, in life the Kamic element) ; 
Dyooq-nah, Shadow of the image (L/«^a Sharira, the Double) ; and Zurath^ 
Prototype, which is Life — seven in all, even without the D^mooth, Likeness 
or Similitude, which is called a lower manifestation, and is in reality the 
Gw/, or Body. Theosophists of the E. S. who know the transposition 
made of Atma and the part taken by the auric prototype, will easily find 
which are the real seven, and assure themselves that between the division 
of Principles of the Eastern Occultists and that of the real Eastern 
Kabbalists there is no difference. Do not let us forget that neither the 
one nor the other are prepared to give out the real dind final classification 
in their public writings. 

Hay-yoth ha Qadosh (Heb.). The holy living creatures of Ezekiel's 
vision of the Merkabah, or vehicle, or chariot. These are the four sym- 
bolical beasts, the cherubim of Ezekiel, and in the Zodiac Taurus, Leo, 
Scorpio (or the Eagle), and Aquarius, the man. 

Hea (Chald.J. The god of the Deep and the Underworld ; some see in 
him Ea or Oannes, the fish-man, or Dagon. 

Heabani (Chald.). A famous astrologer at the Court of Izdubar, fre- 
quently mentioned in the fragments of the Assyrian tablets in reference 
to a dream of Izdubar, the great Babylonian King, or Nimrod, the 
** mighty hunter before the Lord ". After his death, his soul being 
unable to rest underground, the ghost of Heabani was raised by Merodach, 
the god, his body restored to life and then transferred alive^ like Elijah, 
to the regions of the Blessed. 

Head of all Heads (Kab.J. Used of the ** Ancient of the Ancients*' 
Atteekah D'atteekeen, who is the ** Hidden of the Hidden, the Concealed of 
the Concealed ". In this cranium of the *' White Head ", Resha Hivrah, 
** dwell daily 13,000 myriads of worlds, which rest upon It, lean upon 



138 THEOSOFHICAL 

It" {Zohar iii. Idrah Rabbah), . . *' In that Atteekah nothing is revealed 
except the Head alone, because it is the Head of all Heads. . . The 
Wisdom above, which is the Head, is hidden in it, the Brain which is 
tranquil and quiet, and none knows it but Itself. . . . And this 
Hidden Wisdom . . . the Concealed of the Concealed, the Head of 
all Heads, a Head which is not a Head, nor does any one know, nor is it 
ever known, what is in that Head which Wisdom and Reason cannot 
comprehend " {Zohar iii., fol. 288 a). This is said of the Deity of which 
the Head {i.e., Wisdom perceived by all) is alone manifested. Of that 
Principle which is still higher nothing is even predicated, except that its 
universal presence and actuality are a philosophical necessity. 

Heavenly Adam. The synthesis of the Sephirothal Tree, or of all the 
Forces in Nature and their informing deific essence. In the diagrams, 
the Seventh of the lower Sephiroth, Sephira Malkhooth — the Kingdom of 
Harmon); — represents the feet of the ideal Macrocosm, whose head 
reaches to the first manifested Head. This Heavenly Adam is the natura 
naturansy the abstract world, while the Adam of Earth (Humanity) is the 
natura naturata or the material universe. The former is the presence of 
Deity in its universal essence ; the latter the manifestation of the 
intelligence of that essence. In the real Zohar — not the fantastic and 
anthropomorphic caricature which we often find in the writings of 
Western Kabbalists — there is not a particle of the personal deity which 
we find so prominent in the dark cloaking of the Secret Wisdom known 
as the Mosaic Pentateuch. 

Hebdomad (Gr,). The Septenary. 

Hebron or Kirjath-Arha. The city of the Four Kabeiri, for Kirjath- 
Arba signifies ** the City of the Four". It is in that city, according to 
the legend, that an Isarim or an Initiate found the famous Smaragdine 
tablet on the dead body of Hermes. 

Hel or Hela (Scand.), The Goddess- Queen of the Land of the Dead ; 
the inscrutable and direful Being who reigns over thje depths of Helheim 
and Nifelheim. In the earlier mythology, Hel was the earth-goddess, 
the good and beneficent mother, nourisher of the weary and the hungry. 
But in the later Skalds she became the female Pluto, the dark Queen of 
the Kingdom of Shades, she who brought death into this wjrld, and 
sorrow afterwards. 

Helheim (Scand.), The Kingdom of the Dead in the Norse mythology. 
In the Edda, Helheim surrounds the Northern Mistworld, called 
Nifelheim. 

Heliolatry (Gr.). Sun-Worship. 

Hell. A term with the Anglo-Saxons, evidently derived from the name 



GLOSSARY 139 

of the goddess Hela (q^vj^ and by the Sclavonians from the Greek 
Hades : hell being in Russian and other Sclavonian tongues — ddy the 
only difference between the Scandinavian cold hell and the hot hell of 
the Christians, being found in their respective temperatures. But even 
the idea of those overheated regions is not original with the Europeans, 
many peoples having entertained the conception of an underworld climate; 
as well may we if we localise our Hell in the centre of the earth. All 
exoteric religions — the creeds of the Brahmans, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, 
Mahommedans, Jews, and the rest, make their hells hot and dark, though 
many are more attractive than frightful. The idea of a hot hell is an 
afterthought, the distortion of an astronomical allegory. With the 
Egyptians, Hell became a place of punishment by fire not earlier than 
the seventeenth or eighteenth dynasty, when Typhon was transformed 
from a god into a devil. But at whatever time this dread superstition was 
implanted in the minds of the poor ignorant masses, the scheme of a burning 
hell and souls tormented therein is purely Egyptian. Ra (the Sun) became 
the Lord of the Furnace in Kayy, the hell of the Pharaohs, and the 
sinner was threatened with misery ** in the heat of infernal fires *'. ** A 
lion was there " says Dr. Birch ** and was called the roaring monster". 
Another describes the place as ** the bottomless pit and lake of fire, into 
which the victims are thrown " (compare Revelation), The Hebrew word 
gai'hinnom (Gehenna) never really had the significance given to it in 
Christian orthodoxy. 

Hemadri (Sk,). The golden Mountain ; Meru. 

HemevB, (Gr.J, "The light of the inferior or terrestrial regions " as 
Ether is the Hght of the superior heavenly spheres. Both are born of 
Erehos (darkness) and Xux (night). 

Heptakis (Gr,). ** The Seven-rayed One " of the Chaldean astrolaters : 
the same as Iao. 

Herakles (Gr,), The same as Hercules. 

Heranasikha (6V»^.y. ¥ vom Hcrana ** novice" and Sikha " rule " or 
precept : manual of Precepts. A work written in Eln or the ancient 
Singhalese, for the use of young priests. 

Hermanubis (Gr,), Or Hermes Anubis ** the revealer of the mysteries 
of the /oKYr world" — not of Hell or Hades as interpreted, but of our Earth 
(the lowest world of the septenary chain of worlds) — and also of the sexual 
mysteries. Creuzer must have guessed at the truth of the right interpre- 
tation, as he calls Anubis-Thoth-Hermes ** a symbol of science and of the 
intellectual world '\ He was always represented with a cross in his hand, 
one of the earliest symbols of the mystery of generation, or procreation 
on this earth. In the Chaldean Kabbala (Book of Numbers) the Tat 



140 THLOSOPHICAL 

symbol, or +, is referred to as Adam and Eve, the latter being the trans- 
verse or horizontal bar drawn out of the side (or rib) of Hadam, the 
perpendicular bar. The fact is that, esoterically, Adam and Eve while 
representing the early third Root Race — those who, being still mindless, 
imitated the animals and degraded themselves with the latter — stand 
also as the dual symbol of the sexes. Hence Anubis, the Egyptian god 
of generation, is represented with the head of an animal, a dog or a jackal, 
and is also said to be the *' Lord of the under world'' or ** Hades " into 
which he introduces the souls of the dead (the reincarnating entities), for 
Hades is in one sense the womb, as some of the writings of the Church 
Fathers fully show. 

Hermaphrodite (Gr,J. Dual-sexed ; a male and female Being, whether 
man or animal. 

Hermas (Gr,J. An ancient Greek writer of whose works only a few 
fragments are now extant. 

Hermes-fire. The same as ** Elmes-fire". (See Isis Unveiled Yo\. I., 
P- 125.) 

Hermes Sarameyas (Greco-Sanskrit), The God Hermes, or Mercury, 
** he who watches over the flock of stars " in the Greek mythology. 

Hermes Trismegistus (Gr.). The ** thrice great Hermes", the 
Egyptian. The mythical personage after whom the Hermetic philosophy 
was named. In Egypt the God Thoth or Thot. A generic name of 
many ancient Greek writers on philosophy and Alchemy. Hermes 
Trismegistus is the name of Hermes or Thoth in his human aspect, as a 
god he is far more than tliis. As Hermes-J hoth-Aah, he is Thoth, the moon, 
i,e., his symbol is the bright side of the moon, supposed to contain the 
essence of creative Wisdom, "the elixir of Hermes". As such he is 
associated with the Cynocephalus, the dog-headed monkey, for the same 
reason as was Anubis, one of the aspects of Thoth. (See ** Hermanubis".) 
The same idea underlies the form of the Hindu God of Wisdom, the 
elephant-headed Ganesa, or Ganpat, the son of Parvati and Siva. (See 
** Ganesa ".) W^hen he has the head of an ihis^ he is the sacred scribe 
of the gods ; but even then he wears the crown atef and the lunar disk. 
He is the most mysterious of gods. As a serpent, Hermes Thoth is the 
divine creative Wisdom. The Church Fathers speak at length of 
Thoth-Hermes. (See ** Hermetic ".) 

Hermetic. Any doctrine or writing connected with the esoteric 
teachings of Hermes, who, whether as the Egyptian Thoth or the Greek 
Hermes, was the God of Wisdom with the Ancients, and, according to 
Plato, ** discovered numbers, geometry, astronomy and letters ". Though 
mostly considered as spurious, nevertheless the Hermetic writings were 
highly prized by St. Augustine, Lactantius, Cyril and others. In the 



GLOSSARY 141 

words of Mr. J. Bonwick, ** They are more or less touched up by the 
Platonic philosophers among the early Christians (such as Origen and 
Clemens Alexandrinus) who sought to substantiate their Christian argu- 
ments by appeals to these heathen and revered writings, though they 
could not resist the temptation of making them say a little too much ". 
Though represented by some clever and interested writers as teaching 
pure monotheism, the Hermetic or Trismegistic books are, nevertheless, 
purely pantheistic. The Deity referred to in them is defined by Paul as 
that in which " we live, and move and have our being " — notwithstanding 
the " in Him " of the translators. 

Hetu (Sk,). A natural or physical cause. 

Heva (Heb.j. Eve, *' the mother of all that lives ". 

Hiarohas ('Gr.^ The King of the ** Wise Men", in the Journey pf 
ApoUonius of Tyana to India. 

Hierogrammatists. The title given to those Egyptian priests who 
were entrustetl with the writing and reading of the sacred and secret 
records. The '* scribes of the secret records " literally. They were the 
instructors of the neophytes preparing for initiation. 

Hierophant. From the Greek " Hierophantes " ; literally, '* One 
who explains sacred things ". The discloser of sacred learning and the 
Chief of the Initiates. A title belonging to the highest Adepts in the 
temples of antiquity, who were the teachers and expounders of the 
Mysteries and the Initiators into the final great Mysteries. The Hiero- 
phant represented the Demiurge, and explained to the postulants for 
Initiation the various phenomena of Creation that were produced for their 
tuition. ** He was the sole expounder of the esoteric secrets and 
doctrines. It was forbidden even to pronounce his name before an un- 
initiated person. He sat in the East, and wore as a symbol of authority 
a golden globe suspended from the neck. He was also called Mystagogus'' 
(Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, ix., F.T.S., in The Royal Masonic Cyclopadia). 
In Hebrew and Chaldaic the term was Peter, the opener, discloser ; 
hence the Pope as the successor of the hierophant of the ancient 
Mysteries, sits in the Pagan chair of St. Peter. 

Higher Self. The Supreme Divine Spirit overshadowing' man. The 
crown of the upper spiritual Triad in man — Atmdn, 

HiUel. A great Babylonian Rabbi of the century preceding the 
Christian era. He was the founder of the sect of the Pharisees, a 
learned and a sainted man. 

Himachala Himadri (Sk,J, The Himalayan Mountains. 

Himavat (Sk.), The personified Himalayas ; the father of the river 
Ganga, or Ganges. 



142 THEOSOPHICAL 

Hinayana (Sk,). The " Smaller Vehicle " ; a Scripture and a School 
of the Northern Buddhists, opposed to the Mahayana, " the Greater 
Vehicle ", in Tibet. Both schools are mystical. (See " Mahayana ".) 
Also in exoteric superstition the lowest form of transmigration. 

Hiouen Thsang. A great Chinese writer and philosopher who 
travelled in India in the sixth century, in order to learn more about 

Buddhism, to which he was devoted. 

Hippocrates (Gr,), A famous physician of Cos, one of the Cyclades, 
who flourished at Athens during the invasion of Artaxerxes, and delivered 
that town from a dreadful pestilence. He was called ** the father of Medi- 
cine ". Having studied his art from the votive tablets offered by the cured 
patients at the temples of iEsculapius, he became an Initiate and the most 
proficient healer of his day, so much so that he was almost deified. His 
learning and knowledge were enormous. Galen says of his writings that 
they are truly the voice of an oracle. He died in his looth year, 361 B.C. 

Hippopotamus (Gr,), In Egyptian symbolism Typhon was called 
** the hippopotamus who slew his father and violated his mother," Rhea 
(mother of the gods). His father was Chronos. As applied therefore to 
Time and Nature (Chronos and Rhea), the accusation becomes com- 
prehensible. The type of Cosmic Disharmony, Typhon, who is also 
Python, the monster formed of the slime of the Deluge of Deucalion, 
** violates " his mother, Primordial Harmony, whose beneficence was so 
great that she was called ** The Mother of the Golden Age ". It was 
Typhon, who put an end to the latter, i,e,y produced the first war of the 
elements. 

Hiquet (Eg,), The frog-goddess ; one of the symbols of immortality 
and of the ** water " principle. The early Christians had their church 
lamps made in the form of a frog, to denote that baptism in water led to 
immortality. 

Hiram Abiff. A biblical personage; a skilful builder and a ** Widow's 
Son *', whom King Solomon procured from Tyre, for the purpose of super- 
intending the works of the Temple, and who became later a masonic character, 
the hero on whom hangs all the drama, or rather play, of the Masonic 
Third Initiation. The Kabbala makes a great deal of Hiram Abiff". 

Hiranya (Sk,), Radiant, golden, used of the ** Egg of Brahma ". 

Hiranya Garbha (Sk,), The radiant or golden ^gg or womb. Eso- 
terically the luminous ** fire mist " or ethereal stuff" from which the 
Universe was formed. 

Hiranyakasipu (Sk,). A King of the Daityas, whom Vishnu — in his 
avatar of the " man-lion " — puts to death. 

Hiranyaksha (Sk.), *» The golden-eyed.'* The king and ruler of the 



GLOSSARY 143 

5th region of Patala, the nether- world ; a snake-god in the Hindu 
Pantheon. It has various other meanings. 

Hiranyapura (Sk,). The Golden City. 

Hisi (Fin,), The " Principle of Evil " in the Kalevala, the epic poem 
of Finland. 

Hitopadesa (Sk,), ** Good Advice." A work composed of a collec- 
tion of ethical precepts, allegories and other tales from an old Scripture, 
the Panchatiintra. 

Hivim or Chivim (Heh.), Whence the Hivites who, according to some 
Roman Catholic commentators, descend from Heth, son of Canaan, son 
of Ham, ** the accursed ". Brasseur de Bourbourg, the missionary trans- 
lator of the Scripture of the Guatemalians, the Popol Vuhy indulges in the 
theory that the Hivim of the Queizo Cohuatl, the Mexican Serpent Deity, 
and the ** descendants of Serpents " as they call themselves, are identical 
with the descendants of Ham (! !) ** whose ancestor is Cain*'. Such is 
the conclusion, at any rate, drawn from Bourbourg*s writings by Des 
Mousseaux, the demonologist. Bourbourg hints that the chiefs of the 
name of Votan, the Quetzo Cohuatl, are the descendants of Ham and 
Canaan. ** I am Hivim", they say. ** Being a Hivim, I am of the 
great Race of the Dragons. I am a snake, myself, for I am a Hivim " 
(Cortes 5 1 J. But Cain is allegorically shown as the ancestor of the 
Hivites, the Serpents, because Cain is held to have been the first initiate 
in the mystery of procreation. The " race of the Dragons " or Serpents 
means the Wise Adepts. The names Hivi or Hivite, and Levi — signify a 
*' Serpent "; and the Hivites or Serpent-tribe of Palestine, were, like all 
Levites and Ophites of Israel, initiated Ministers to the temples, i,e,j 
Occultists, as are the priests of Quetzo Cohuatl. The Gibeonites whom 
Joshua assigned to the service of the sanctuary were Hivites. (See Isis 
Unveiled, Vol. II. 481.) 

Hler (Scand.), The god of the sea. One of the three mighty sons of 
the Frost-giant, Ymir. These sons were Kari, god of the air and the 
storms ; Hler of the Sea ; and Logi of the fire. They are the Cosmic 
trinity of the Norsemen. 

Hoa (Heb.J. That, from which proceeds Ab, the " Father " ; therefore 
the Concealed Logos, 

Hoang Ty (Chin,), " The Great Spirit." His Sons are said to have ac- 
quired new wisdom, and imparted what they knew before to mortals, by 
falling— like the rebellious angels— into the ** Valley of Pain ", which is 
allegorically our Earth. In other words they are identical with the 
** Fallen Angels " of exoteric religions, and with the reincarnating Egos, 
esoterically. 



144 THEOSOPHICAL 

Hochmah (Heb,J. See ** Chochmah ". 

Hod (Heh.). Splendour, the eighth of the ten Sephiroth, a female 
passive potency, [vv. w. \v.] 

Holy of Holies. The Assyriologists, Egyptologists, and Orien- 
talists, in general, show that such a place existed in every temple of 
antiquity. The great temple of Bel-Merodach whose sides faced the 
four cardinal points, had in its extreme end a ** Holy of Holies " hidden 
from the profane by a veil: here, **at the beginning of the year * the 
divine king of heaven and earth, the lord of the heavens, seats himself '." 
According to Herodotus, here was the golden image of the god with a 
golden table in front like the Hebrew table for the shew bread, and upon 
this, food appears to have been placed, in some temples there also was 
** a little coffer or ark with two engraved stone tablets on it ". (Myer's 
Qahhalah,) In short, it is now pretty well proven, that the ** chosen 
people " had nothing original of their own, but that every detail of their 
ritualism and religion was borrowed from older nations. The Hihhert 
Lectures by Prof. Sayce and others show this abundantly. The story of 
the birth of Moses is that of Sargon, the Babylonian, who preceded 
Moses by a couple of thousand years ; and no wonder, as Dr. Sayce tells 
us that tlie nar^ie of Moses, Mosheh, has a connection with the name of 
the Babylonian sun-god as the ** hero" or ** leader". (Hib, Led,, p. 46 
et seq,) Says Mr. J. Myer, ** The orders of the priests were divided into 
high priests, those attached or bound to certain deities, hke the Hebrew 
Levites ; anointers or cleaners ; the Kali, * illustrious ' or * elders ' ; the 
soothsayers, and the Mahhkhtt or * great one ', in which Prof. Delitzsch 
sees the Rab-mag of the Old Testament. . . The Akkadians and 
Chaldeans kept a Sabbath day of rest every seven days, they also had 
thanksgiving days, and days for humiliation and prayer. There were 
sacrifices of vegetables and animals, of meats and wine. . . . The 
number seven was especially sacred. . . . The great temple of 
Babylon existed long before 2,250 B.C. Its * Holy of Holies ' was with- 
in the shrine of Nebo, the prophet god of wisdom." It is from the 
Akkadians that the god Mardak passed to the Assyrians, and he had 
been before Merodach, ** the merciful ", of the Babylonians, the only 
son and interpreter of the will of F^a or Hea, the great Deity of Wisdom. 
The Assyriologists have, in short, unveiled the whole scheme of the 
^^ chosen people". 

Holy Water. This is one of the oldest rites practised in Egypt, and 
thence in Pagan Rome. It accompanied the rite of bread and wine. 
** Holy water was sprinkled by the Egyptian priest alike upon his gods' 
images and the faithful. It was both poured aud sprinkled. A brush 
has been found, supposed to have been used for that purpose, as at this 



glossary' 145 

day." (Bonwick*s Egyptian Belief,) As to the bread, ** the cakes of isis 
' ... were placed upon the altar. Gliddon writes that they were 

* identical in shape with the consecrated cake of the Roman and Eastern 
Churches'. Melville assures us * the Egyptians marked this holy 
bread with St. Andrew's cross '. The Presettce bread was broken before 
being distributed by the priests to the people, and was supposed to 
become the flesh and blood of the Deity. The miracle was wrought by 
the hand of the officiating priest, who blessed the food. . . . Roug6 
tells us * the bread offerings bear the imprint of the fingers, the mark of 
consecration '." (Ibid, page 418.) (See also ** Bread and Wine ".) 

Homogeneity. From the Greek words homos " the same " and genos 
"kind". That which is of the same nature throughout, undifferentiated, 
non-compound, as gold is supposed to be. 

Honir (Scand.J, A creative god who furnished the first man with 
intellect and understanding after man had been created by him jointly 
with Odin and Lodur from an ash tree. 

Honover (Zend), The Persian Logos, the manifested Word. 

Hor Ammon (Eg,), ** The Self-engendered ", a word in theogony 
which answers to the Sanskrit Anupadaka, parentless. Hor- Ammon is a 
combination of the ram-headed god of Thebes and of Horus. 

Horohia (Chald,), According to Berosus, the same as Vesta, goddess 
of the Hearth. 

HoFUS (Eg.), The last in the lin^ of divine Sovereigns in Egypt, said 
to be the son of Osiris and Isis. He is the great god ** loved of Heaven", 
the ** beloved of the Sun, the offspring of the gods, the subjugator of the 
world *'. At the time of the Winter Solstice (our Christmas), his image, 
iri the form of a small newly-born infant, was brought out from the 
. sanctuary for the adoration of the worshipping crowds. As he is the 
type of the vault of heaven, he is said to have come from the Maem Misi, 
the sacred birth-place (the womb of the World), and is, therefore, the 
t "mystic Child of the Ark" or the argha, thk symbol of the matrix. 

 Cosmically, he is the Winter Sun. A tablet describes him as the " sub- 

stance of his father", Osiris, of whom he is an incarnation and also 
identical with him. Horus is a chaste deity, and " like Apollo has no 
amours. His part in the lower world is associated with the Judgment. 
He introduces souls to his father, the Judge " (Bonwick). An ancient 
.1 '« hymn says of him, ** By him the world is judged in that which it con- 

tains. Heaven and earth are under his immediate presence. He rules 
all human beings. The sun goes round according to his purpose. He 
. , brings forth abundance and dispenses it to all the earth. Every one 

' adores his beauty. Sweet is his love in us." 

K 



146 THEOSOPHICAL 

Hotri (Sk,), A priest who recites the hymns from the Rig Veda, and 
makes oblations to the fire. 

Hotris (Sk,), A symbolical name for the seven senses called, in the 
Anngita "the Seven Priests". **The senses supply the fire of mind 
(i.e., desire) with the oblations of external pleasures." An occult term 
used metaphysically. 

HrimthuFses (Scand,), The Frost-giants ; Cyclopean builders in the 
Edda, 

Humanity. Occultly and Kabbalistically, the whole of mankind is 
symbolised, by Manu in India ; by Vajrasattva or Dorjesempa, the head of 
the Seven Dhyani, in Northern Buddhism ; and by Adam Kadmon in the 
Kabbala. All these represent the totality of mankind whose beginning 
is in this androgynic protoplast, and whose end is in the Absolute, beyond 
all these symbols and myths of human origin. Humanity is a great 
Brotherhood by virtue of the sameness of the material from which it is 
formed physically and morally. Unless, however, it becomes a Brother- 
hood also intellectually, it is no better than a superior genus of 
animals. 

Hun-desa (Sk,), The country around lake Mansaravara in Tibet. 

Hvanuatha (Mazd,), The name of the earth on which we live. One 
of the seven Karshvare (Earths), spoken of in Orma Ahr, (See Introduction 
to the Vendidad by Prof. Darmsteter.) 

Hwergelmir (Scand,), A roaring cauldron wherein the souls of the 
evil doers perish. 

Hwun (Chin,), Spirit. The same as Atman. 

Hydranos (Gr,), Lit,, the ** Baptist ". A name of the ancient 
Hierophant of the Mysteries who made the candidate pass through the 
** trial by water ", wherein he was plunged thrice. This was his baptism 
by the Holy Spirit which moves on the waters of Space. Paul refers to 
St. John as Hydranos, the Baptist. The Christian Church took this rite 
from the ritualism of the Eleusinian and other Mysteries. 

Hyksos (Eg,), The mysterious nomads, the Shepherds, who invaded 
Egypt at a period unknown and far anteceding the days of Moses. 
They are called the ** Shepherd Kings". 

Hyle (Gr,), Primordial stuff or matter; esoterically the homogeneous 
sediment of Chaos or the Great Deep. The first principle out of which 
the objective Universe was formed. 

Hypatia (Gr.), The girl-philosopher, who lived at Alexandria during 
the fifth century, and taught many a famous man — among others Bishop 
Synesius. She was the daughter of the mathematician Theon, and 
became famous for her learning. Falling a martyr to the fiendish 



GLOSSARY 147 

conspiracy of Theophilos, Bishop of Alexandria, and his nephew Cyril, 
she was foully murdered by their order. With her death fell the Neo- 
Platonic School. 

Hyperborean (GrJ. The regions around the North Pole in the 
Arctic Circle. 

Hypnotism (Gr.J, A name given by Dr. Braid to various processes 
by which one person of strong will-power plunges another of weaker mind 
into a kind of trance ; once in such a state the latter will do anything 
suggested to him by the hypnotiser. Unless produced for beneficial pur- 
poses. Occultists would call it black magic or Sorcery. It is the most 
dangerous of practices, morally and physically, as it interferes with the 
nerve fluid and the nerves controlling the circulation in the capillary 
blood-vessels. 

HypocephaluB (Gr,), A kind of a pillow for the head of the mummy. 
They are of various kinds, eg., of stone, wood, etc., and very often of 
circular disks of linen covered with cement, and inscribed with magic 
figures and letters. They are called ** rest for the dead " in the Ritual, 
and every mummy-coffin has one. 



148 THEOSOPHICAL 



I 



I 



, — The ninth letter in the English, the tenth in the Hebrew alphabet. 

As a numeral it signifies in both languages one^ and also ten in the 

/ Hebrew (see J), in which it corresponds to the Divine name J ah, 

\ the male side, or aspect, of the hermaphrodite being, or the male-female 

Adam, of which hovah (Jahciuavah) is the female aspect. It is symbolized 

by a hand with bent fore-finger, to show its phallic signification. 

lacchos {Gr.), A synonym of Bacchus. Mythology mentions three 
persons so named : they were Greek ideals adopted later by the Romans. 
The word lacchos is stated to be of Phoenician origin, and to mean " an 
infant at the breast ". Many ancient monuments represent Ceres or 
Demeter with Bacchus in her arms. One lacchos was called Theban 
and Conqueror, son of Jupiter and Semele ; his mother died before his 
birth and he was preserved for some time in the thigh of his father ; he 
was killed by the Titans. Another was son of Jupiter, as a Dragon, and 
Persephone ; this one was named Zagraeus. A third was lacchos of 
Eleusis, son of Ceres : he is of importance because he appeared on the 
sixth day of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Some see an analogy between 
Bacchus and Noah, both cultivators of the Vine, and patrons of 
alcoholic excess, [w.w.w.] 

lachus (Gr,). An Egyptian physician, whose memory, according to 
iElian, was venerated for long centuries on account of his wonderful 
occult knowledge. lachus is credited with having stopped epidemics 
simply by certain fumigations, and cured diseases by making his patients 
inhale herbs. 

laho. Though this name is more fully treated under the word ** Yaho" 
and ** lao", a few words of explanation will not be found amiss. Diodorus 
mentions that the God of Moses was lao ; but as the latter name denotes 
a ** mystery god ", it cannot therefore be confused with laho or Yaho 
(q.v,). The Samaritans pronounced it labe, Yahva, and the Jews Yaho, 
and then Jehovah, by change of Masoretic vowels, an elastic scheme 
by which any change may be indulged in. But ** Jehovah '* is a later inven- 
tion and invocation, as originally the name was Jah, or lacchos (Bacchus). 
Aristotle shows the ancient Arabs representing lach (lacchos) by a horse, 
i.e., the horse of the Sun (Dionysus), which followed the chariot on which 
Ahura Mazda, the god of the Heavens, daily rode. 



GLOSSARY 149 

lamblichus (Gr,). A great Theurgist, mystic, and writer of the 
third and fourth centuries, a Neo-Platonist and philosopher, born at 
Chalcis in Coele-Syria. Correct biographies of him have never existed 
because of the hatred of the Christians ; but that which has been 
gathered of his life in isolated fragments from works by impartial pagan 
and independent writers shows how excellent and holy was his moral 
character, and how great his learning. He may be called the founder 
of theurgic magic among the Neo-Platonist s and the reviver of the 
practical mysteries outside of temple or fane. His school was at first 
distinct from that of Plotinus and Porphyry, who were strongly against 
ceremonial magic and practical theurgy as dangerous, though later he 
convinced Porphyry of its advisability on some occasions, and both 
master and pupil firmly believed in theurgy and magic, of which the 
former is principally the highest and most efficient mode of communica- 
tion with one's Higher Ego, through the medium of one's astral body. 
Theurgic is benevolent magic, and it becomes goetic, or dark and evil, 
only when it is used for necromancy or selfish purposes ; but such dark 
magic has never been practised by any theurgist or philosopher, whose 
name has descended to us unspotted by any evil deed. So much was 
Porphyry (who became the teacher of lamblichus in Neo-Platonic 
philosophy) convinced of this, that though he himself never practised 
theurgy, yet he gave instructions for the acquirement of this sacred 
science. Thus he says in one of his writings, " Whosoever is acquainted 
with the nature of divinely luminous appearances {(fxurfiaTa) knows also on 
what account it is requisite to abstain from all birds (and animal food) 
and especially for him who hastens to be liberated from terrestrial con- 
cerns and to be established with the celestial gods ". (See Select Works 
by T. Taylor, p. 159.) Moreover, the same Porphyry mentions in his 
Life of Plotinus a priest of Egypt, who, •* at the request of a certain friend 
of Plotinus, exhibited to him, in the temple of Isis at Rome, the familiar 
daimon of that philosopher ". In other words, he produced the theurgic 
invocation (see ** Theurgist ") by which Egyptian Hierophant or Indian 
Mahatma, of old, could clothe their own or any other person's astral 
double with the appearance of its Higher Ego, or what Bulwer Lytton 
terms the "Luminous Self", the Augoeides, and confabulate with It. 
This it is which lamblichus and many others, including the mediaeval 
Rosier ucans, meant by union with Deity. lamblichus wrote many books 
but only a few of his works are extant, such as his ** Egyptian Mysteries " 
and a treatise " On Daemons ", in which he speaks very severely against 
any intercourse with them. He was a biographer of Pythagoras and 
deeply versed in the system of the latter, and was also learned in 
the Chaldean Mysteries. He taught that the One, or universal Monad, 



I50 THtnsoHHICA). 

was the principle of all unity as well as diversity, or of Homogeneity 
and Heterogeneity ; that the Duad, or two (" Principles "), was the intel- 
lect, or that which we call Buddhi-Manas; three, was the Soul (the 
lower Manas), etc., etc. There is much of the theosophical in his 
teachings, and his works on the various kinds of daemons (Eleiiientals) are 
a well of esoteric knowledge for the student. His austerities, purity of 
life and earnestness were great. lanihlichus is credited with having 
been once levitated ten cubits high from the ground, as are some of the 
modern Yogis, and even great mediums, 

lao (Gr.). See laho. Tlie highest god of the PhtEnicians — "the 
light conceivable only by intellect ", the physical and spiritual Principle 
of all things, "the male Essence of Wisdom". It is the ideal Sun- 
light. 

lao Hebdomai (Gr.). The collective " Seven Heavens " (also angels) 
according to Irenaeus. The mystery-god of the Gnostics. The same as 
the Seven Manasa-putras (g.v.J of the Occultists. (See also " Yah " and 
" Yaho".) 

Ibis Worship. The Ibis, in Egyptian Hab, was sacred to Thoth at 
Hermopolis. It was called the messenger of Osiris, for it is (he symbol 
of Wisdom, Discrimination, and Purity, as it loathes water if it is the least 
impure. Its usefulness in devouring the eggs of the crocodiles and 
serpents was great, and its credentials for divme honours as a symbol 
were : (a) lis black wings, which related it to primeval darkness — chaos; 
and (i) the triangular shape of them — the triangle being the first geome- 
trical figure and a symbol of the trinitarian mystery. To this day the 
Ibis is a sacred bird with some tribes of Kopts who live along the Nile. 

Ibn Geblpol. Solomon Ben Ytkudah: a great philosopher and scholar, 
a Jew by birth, who lived in the eleventh century in Spain. The same 
as Avicenna (q.v.). 

lohchha (Sk.j. Will, or will-power. 

lohohha Sakti (Sk.). Will-power ; force of desire ; one of the occult 
Forces of nature. That power of the will which, exercised in occult 
practices, generates the nerve -currents necessary to set certain muscles 
in motion and to paralyze certain others. 

IchthuB (Gf.J. A Fish : the symbol of the Fish has been frequently 
referred to Jesus, the Christ of the New Testament, partly because the 
five letters forming the word are the initials o( the Greek phrase, lesous 
Christos Theou Uios Soter, Jesus Christ the Saviour, Son of God. Hence 
his followers in the early Christian centuries were often called Jiihts, and 
drawings of fish are found in the Catacombs. Compare also the narra- 
tive that some of his early disciples were fishermen, and the assertion 



GLOSSARY 151 

of Jesus — ** I will make you fishers of men ". Note also the Vesica Piscis, 
a conventional shape for fish in general, is frequently found enclosing a 
picture of a Christ, holy virgin, or saint; it is a long oval with pointed 
ends, the space marked out by the intersection of two equal circles, 
when less than half the area of one. Compare the Christian female 
recluse, a Nun — this word is the Chaldee name for fish, and fish is con- 
nected with the worship of Venus, a goddess, and the Roman Catholics 
still eat fish on the Dies Veneris or Friday, [w.w.w.] 

Ida (Scand.), The plains of Ida, on which the gods assemble to hold 
counsel in the Edda, The field of peace and rest. 

Ideos, in Paracelsus the same as Chaos, or Mystermm Magnum as that 
philosopher calls it. 

Idises (Stand,), The same as the Discs, the Fairies and Walkyries, 
the divine women in the Norse legends ; they were reverenced by the 
Teutons before the day of Tacitus, as the latter shows. 

Idfidic Finger. An iron finger strongly magnetized and used in the 
temples for healing purposes. It produced wonders in that direction, 
and therefore was said to possess magical powers. 

Idol. A statue or a picture of a heathen god ; or a statue or picture of 
a Romish Saint, or a fetish of uncivilized tribes. 

Idospati (Sk,), The same as Narayana or Vishnu; resembling 
Poseidon in some respects. 

Idra Rabba (Heb,), " The Greater Holy Assembly ", a division of 
the Zohar. 

Idra Suta (Heb,), ** The Lesser Holy Assembly ", another division of 
the Zohar. 

Iduna (Scand, J, The goddess of immortal youth. The daughter of 
Iwaldi, the Dwarf. She is said in the Edda to have hidden ** life " in the 
Deep of the Ocean, and when the right time came, to have restored it to 
Earth once more. She was the wife of Bragi, the god of poetry ; a most 
charming myth. Like Heimdal, ** born of nine mothers ", Bragi at hi^ 
birth rises upon the crest of the wave from the bottom of the sea (see 
'* J3ragi "). He married Iduna, the immortal goddess, who accompanies 
him to Asgard where every morning she feeds the gods with the apples of 
eternal youth and health. (See Asgard and the Gods.) 

Idwatsara (Sk,). One of the five periods that form the Yuga. This 
cycle is pre-eminently the Vedic cycle, which is taken as the basis of 
calculation for larger cycles. 

leu. The ** first man " ; a Gnostic term used in Pistis-Sophia. 

lezedians or lezidi (Pcrs.). This sect came to Syria from Basrah. 
They use baptism, believe in the archangels, but reverence Satan at the 



152 THEOSOPHICAL 

same time. Their prophet lezad, who preceded Mahomet by long 
centuries, taught that a messenger from heaven wpuld bring them a book 
written from the eternity. 

Ifing (Scand,), The broad river that divides Asgard, the home of the 
gods, from that of the Jotuns, the great and strong magicians. Below 
Asgard was Midgard, where in the sunny aether was built the home of 
the Light Elves. In their disposition and order of locality, all these 
Homes answer to the Deva and other Lokas of the Hindus, inhabited by 
the various classes of gods and Asuras. 

Igaga (Chald.) Celestial angels, the same as Archangels. 

I.H.S. This triad of initials stands for the in hoc signo of the alleged 
vision of Constantine, of which, save Eusebius, its author, no one ever 
knew. I.H.S. is interpreted Jesus Hominum Salvator, and In hoc signo. It 
is, however, well known that the Greek I H2 was one of the most ancient 
names of Bacchus. As Jesus was never identical with Jehovah, but with 
his own *• Father " (as all of us are), and had come rather to destroy the 
worship of Jehovah than to enforce it, as the Rosicrucians well main- 
tained, the scheme of E usebius is very transparent. In hoc signo Victor- 

criSf or the Laharum -f (the tan and the rcsh) is a very old signum, placed 
on the foreheads of those who were just initiated. Kenealy translates 
it as meaning " he who is initiated into the Naronic Secret, or the 600, 
shall be Victor"; but it is simply ** through this sign hast thou con- 
quered"; /.^., through the light of Initiation — Lux. (See "Neophyte" 
and " Naros ".) 

Ikhir Bonga. A ** Spirit of the Deep " of the Kolarian tribes. 

IkshwaJcu (Sk,), The progenitor of the Solar tribe (the Suryavansas) 
in India, and the Son of Vaivaswata Manu, the progenitor of the present 
human Race. 

Ila (Sk.J. Daughter of Vaivaswata Manu ; wife of Buddha, the son 
of Soma ; one month a woman and the other a man by the decree of 
Saraswati ; an allusion to the androgynous second race. Ila is also 
Vach in another aspect. 

Ilavriti (Sk,), A region in the centre of which is placed Mount 
Meru, the habitat of the gods. 

Ilda Baoth. Lit., **the child from the Egg", a Gnostic term. He is 
the creator of our physical globe (the earth) according to the Gnostic 
teaching in the Codex Nazaraus (the Evangel of the Nazarenes and the 
Ebionites). The latter identifies him with Jehovah the God of the Jews. 
Ildabaoth is '* the Son of Darkness " in a bad sense and the father of the 
six terrestrial ** Stellar ", dark spirits, the antithesis of the bright 
Stellar spirits. Their respective abodes are the seven spheres, the upper 



GLOSSARY 153 

of which begins in the "middle space", the region of their mother 
Sophia Acham6th, and the lower ending on this earth — the seventh region 
(See Isis Unveiled, Vol. II., 183.) Ilda-Baoth is the genius of Saturn, the 
planet ; or rather the evil spirit of its ruler. 

Iliados. In Paracelsus the same as **Ideos" (q^v,). Primordial 
matter in the subjective state. 

Illa-ah, Adam (Heb.J. Adam lUa-ah is the celestial, superior Adam, 
in the Zohar, 

lUinus. One of the gods in the Chaldean Theogony of Damascius. 

Ilmatar (Finn.). The Virgin who falls from heaven into the sea before 
creation. She is the ** daughter of the air** and the mother of seven 
sons (the seven forces in nature). (See Kalevala, the epic poem of 
Finland. 

Illusion. In Occultism everything finite (like the universe and all in 
it) is called illusion or maya, 

Illuminati (Lat.). The ** Enlightened ", the initiated adepts. 

Uus (Or,). Primordial mud or slime ; called also Hyle. 

Image. Occultism permits no other image than that of the living 
image of divine man (the symbol of Humanity) on earth. The Kahhala 
teaches that this divine Image, the copy of the sublime and holy upper I fnage {the 
Elohim) has now changed into another similitude, owing to the development 
of men's sinful nature. It is only the upper divine Image (the Ego) which 
is the same ; the lower (personality) has changed, and man, now fearing 
the wild beasts, has grown to bear on his face the similitude of many of 
them. {Zohar I. fol. 71^.) In the early period of Egypt there were no 
images ; but later, as Lenormand says, ** In the sanctuaries of Egypt 
they divided the properties of nature and consequently of Divinity (the 
Elohim, or the Egos), into seven abstract qualities, characterised each by 
an emblem, which are matter, cohesion, fluxion, coagulation, accum- 
ulation, station and division ". These were all attributes symbolized in 
various images. 

Imagination. In Occultism this is not to be confused with fancy, as it is 
one of the plastic powers of the higher Soul, and is the memory of the 
preceding incarnations, which, however disfigured by the lower Manas, 
yet rests always on a ground of truth. 

Imhot-pou or Imhotep (Eg.). The god of learning (the Greek Imouthes). 
He was the son of Ptah, and in one aspect Hermes, as he is represented 
as imparting wisdom with a book before him. He is a solar god ; lit,, 
'* the god of the handsome face *'. 

Immah (Heh,). Mother, in contradistinction to Abba, father. 



154 THhc sormcAL 

Immah illa-ah (Htb.J. The upper mother ; a name given to 
Shekinah. 

In (Chin,), The female principle of matter, impregnated by Yoy the 
male ethereal principle, and precipitated thereafter down into the 
universe. 

Incarnations (Divine) or Avatars. The Immaculate Conception is as 
pre-eminently Egyptian as it is Indian. As the author of Egyptian Belief 
has it: ** It is not the vulgar, coarse and sensual story as in Greek 
mythology, but refined, moral and spiritual " ; and again the incarnation 
idea was found revealed on the w^all of a Theban temple by Samuel 
Sharpe, who thus analyzes it : ** First the god Thoth ... as the 
messenger of the gods, like the Mercury of the Greeks (or the Gabriel of 
the first Gospel), tells the maiden queen Mautmes, that she is to give 
birth to a son, who is to be king Amunotaph III. Secondly, the god 
Kneph, the Spirit .... and the goddess Hathor (Nature) . . . 
both take hold of the queen by the hands and put into her mouth the 
character for life, a cross, which is to be the life of the coming child ", 
etc., etc. Truly divine incarnation, or the avatar doctrine, constituted the 
grandest mystery of every old religious system ! 

Inoas (Peruvian), The name given to the creative gods in the Peru- 
vian theogony, and later to the rulers of the country. ** The Incas, 
seven in number have repeopled the earth after the Deluge", Coste 
makes them say (I. iv., p. 19). They belonged at the beginning of the 
Jiftit Root -race to a dynasty of divine kings, such as those of Egypt, 
India and Chaldea. 

Incubus (Lat,), Something more real and dangerous than the 
ordinary meaning given to the word, vtz,y that of ** nightmare ". An 
Incubus is the male Elemental, and Succuba the female, and these are 
undeniably the spooks of mediaeval demonology, called forth from the 
invisible regions by human passion and lust. They are now called 
** Spirit brides" and ** Spirit husbands" among some benighted Spiritists 
and spiritual mediums. But these poetical names do not prevent them 
in the least being that which they are — Ghools, Vampires and soulless 
Elementals ; formless centres of Life, devoid of sense ; in short, subjective 
protoplasms when left alone, but called into a definite being and form by 
the creative and diseased imagination of certain mortals. They were 
known under every clime as in every age, and the Hindus can tell more 
than one terrible tale of the dramas enacted in the life of young students 
and mystics by the Pisachas, their name in India. 

Individuality. One of the names given in Theosophy and Occultism 
to the Human Higher Ego. We make a distinction between the im- 
mortal and divine Ego, and the mortal human Ego which perishes. 



GLOSSARY 155 

The latter, or ** personality " (personal Ego) survives the dead body only 
for a time in the Kama Loka ; the Individuality prevails for ever. 

Indra (Sk.), The god of the Firmament, the King of the sidereal 
gods. A Vedic Deity. 

Indr&ni (Sk.). The female aspect of Indra. 

Indriya or Deha Sanyama (Sk.). The control of the senses in 
Yoga practice. These are the ten external agents ; the five senses 
which are used for perception are called Jnana-indriyay and the five used 
for action — Karma-indriya. Pancha-indryani means literally and in 
its occult sense ** the five roots producing life " (eternal). With the 
Buddhists, it is the five positive agents producing five supernal 
qualities. 

Induvansa (Sk.). Also Somavansa or the lunar race (dynasty), from 
Indu^ the Moon. (** See ** Suryavansa ".) 

Indwellers. A name or the substitute lor the right Sanskrit esoteric 
name, given to our " inner enemies ", which are seven in the esoteric 
philosophy. The early Christian Church called them the ** seven 
capital Sins": the Nazarene Gnostics named them, the "seven badly 
disposed Stellars ", and so on. Hindu exoteric teachings speak only of 
the ^^ six enemies" and under the term Arishadivarga enumerate them as 
follows: (i) Personal desire, lust or any passion f/iT^iwrt J ; (2) Hatred or 
malice (Krodha) ; (3) Avarice or cupidity (Lobha) ; (4) Ignorance 
(Moha) \ (5) Pride or arrogance (Mada) ; (6) Jealousy, envy (Matcharya) ; 
forgetting the seventh, which is the ** unpardonable sin ", and the worst 
of all in Occultism. (See Thcosophist, May, 1890, p. 431.) 

Ineffable Name. With the Jews, the substitute for the '^mystery 
name " of their tribal deity Eh-yeh, ** I am ", or Jehovah. The third 
commandment prohibiting the using of the latter name ** in vain ", the 
Hebrews substituted for it that of Adonai or ** the Lord ". But the 
Protestant Christians who, translating indifferently Jehovah and Elohim 
— which is also a substitute per se, besides being an inferior deity name — 
by the words *• Lord " and " God", have become in this instance more 
Catholic than the Pope, and include in the prohibition both the names. 
At the present moment, however, neither Jews nor Christians seem to 
remember, or so much as suspect, the occult reason why the qualification 
of Jehovah or YH VH had become reprehensible ; most of the Western 
Kabbalists also seem to be unaware of the fact. The truth is, that 
the name they bring forward as " ineffable ", is not in the least so. It is 
the ** unpronounceable ", or rather the name not to be pronounced^ if any 
thing; and this for symbological reasons. To begin with, the ** Ineffable 
Name " of the true Occultist, is no fiame at all, least of all is it that of 



156 THEOSOPHICAL 

Jehovah. The latter impHes, even in its Kabbalistical, esoteric meaning, 
an androf2^ynous nature, YHVH, or one of a male and female nature. 
It is simply Adam and Eve, or man and woman blended in one, and as 
now written and pronounced, is itself a substitute. But the Rabbins do 
not care to remember the Zoharic admission that YHVH means ** not 
as I Am written, Am I read '* (Zohar, fol. HI., 230^^. One has to know 
how to divide the Tetragrammaton ad infinitum before one arrives at the 
sound of the truly unpronouncable name of the Jewish mystery-god. 
That the Oriental Occultists have their own ** Ineffable name " it is 
hardly necessary to repeat. 

Initiate. From the Latin Initiatus, The designation of anyone who 
was received into and had revealed to him the mysteries and secrets of 
either Masonry or Occultism. In times of antiquity, those who had 
been initiated into the arcane knowledge taught by the Hierophants of 
the Mysteries ; and in our modern days those who have been initiated by 
the adepts of mystic lore into the mysterious knowledge, which, 
notwithstanding the lapse of ages, has yet a few real votaries on 
earth. 

Initiation. From the same root as the I^atin initia^ which means the 
basic or first principles of any Science. The practice of initiation or 
admission into the sacred Mysteries, taught by the Hierophants and 
learned priests of the Temples, is one of the most ancient customs. This 
was practised in every old national religion. In Europe it was abolished 
with the fall of the last pagan temple. There exists at present but one 
kind of initiation known to the public, namely that into the Masonic rites. 
Masonry, however, has no more secrets to give out or conceal. In the 
palmy days of old, the Mysteries, according to the greatest Greek and 
Roman philosophers, were the most sacred of all solemnities as well as 
the most beneficent, and greatly promoted virtue. The Mysteries re- 
presented the passage from mortal life into finite death, and the 
experiences of the disembodied Spirit and Soul in the world of subjec- 
tivity. In our own day, as the secret is lost, the candidate passes 
through sundry meaningless ceremonies and is initiated into the solar 
allegory of Hiram Abiff, the ** Widow's Son ". 

Inner Man. An occult term, used to designate the true and immortal 
Entity in us, not the outward and mortal form of clay that we call our 
body. The term applies, strictly speaking, only to the Higher Ego, the 
** astral man " being the appellation of the Double and of K^ma Rupa 
(q.v») or the surviving eidolon. 

Innocents. A nick-name given to the Initiates and Kabbalists before 
the Christian era. The ** Innocents '* of Bethlehem and of Lud (or 
Lydda) who were put to death by Alexander Janneus, to the number of 



GLOSSARY 157 

several thousands (b.c. 100, or so), gave rise to the legend of the 40,000 
innocent babes murdered by Herod while searching for the infant Jesus. 
The first is a little known historical fact, the second a fable, as 
sufficiently sho\vn by Kenan in his Vie de Jesus, 

Interoosmic gods. The Planetary Spirits, Dhyan-Chohans, Devas of 
various degrees of spirituality, and ** Archangels " in general. 

Iranian Morals. The little work called Ancient Iranian and Zoroastrian 
Morals^ compiled by Mr. Dhunjibhoy Jamsctjee Medhora, a Parsi 
Theosophist of Bombay, is an excellent treatise replete with the highest 
moral teachings, in English and Gujerati, and will acquaint the student 
better than many volumes with the ethics of the ancient Iranians. 

Irdhi (Sk,). The synthesis of the ten ** supernatural " occult powers 
in Buddhism and Brahmanism. 

Irkalla (Chald.), The god of Hades, callerl by the Babylonians '* the 
country unseen ". 

Isarim (Ilch,), The Essenian Initiates. 

Ishim (Chald.), The B'ne-Alcim, the ** beautiful sons of god", the 
originals and prototypes of the later ** Fallon Angels ". 

Ishmonia (Arab,), The city near which is buried the so-called 
** petrified city " in the Desert. Legend speaks of immense subterranean 
halls and chambers, passages, and libraries secreted in them. Arabs 
dread its neighbourhood after sunset. 

Ishtar (Chald,), The Babylonian Venus, called *'the eldest of heaven 
and earth ", and daughter of Ann, the god of heaven. She is the goddess 
of love and beauty. The planet Venus, as the evening star, is identified 
with Ishtar, and as the morning star with Anunit, the goddess of the 
Akkads. There exists a most remarkable story of her descent 
into Hades, on the sixth and seventh Assyrian tiles or tablets 
deciphered by the late G. Smith. Any Occultist who reads of her love 
for Tammuz, his assassination by Izdubar, the despair of the goddess 
and her descent in search of her beloved through the seven gates of 
Hades, and finally her liberation from the dark realm, will recognise the 
beautiful allegory of the soul in search of the Spirit. 

Isiao table. A true monument of Egyptian art. It represents the 
goddess Isis under many of her aspects. The Jesuit Kircher describes 
it as a table of copper overlaid with black enamel and silver incrustations. 
It was in the possession of Cardinal Bembo, and therefore called 
** Tabula Bembina sive Mensa Isiaca ". Under this title it is described 
by W. Wynn Westcott, M.B., who gives its ** History and Occult 
Significance "in an extremely interesting and learned volume (with 
photographs and illustrations). The tablet was believed to have been a 



I^fi THF.nSnPHICAL 

votive ofFering to Isis in one of her numerous temples. At ths sack of 
Rome in 1525, it came into the possession of a soldier who sold it to 
Cardinal Bembo. Then it passed to the Duke of Mantua in 1630, when 
it was lost. 

Isis. In Egyptian Issa, the goddess Virgin-Mother; personified nature. 
In Egyptian or Koptic Uasi, the female reflection of Uasar or Osiris, 
She is the  woman clothed with the sun " of the land of Chemi. Isis- 
Latona is the Roman Isis, 

Isitwa (Sk.). The divine Power. 

lerael (Heb.). The Eastern Kahbalists derive the name from Isaral or 
Asar, the Sun-God. " Isra-el " signifies " striving with god " ; the "sun 
' rising upon Jacoh-israel " means the Sun-god Isara! {or Isar-el) striving 
with, and to fecundate matter, which has power with " God and with 
man " and often prevails over both. Esau, ,^isaou, Asu, is also the Sun. 
Esau and Jacob, the allegorical twins, are the emblems of the ever 
struggling dual principle in nature — good and evil, darkness and sunlight, 
and the "Lord" (Jehovah) is their antetype. Jacob-Israel is the 
feminine principle of Esau, as Abel is that of Cain, both Cain and Esau 
being the male principle. Hence, like Malach-Iho, the " Lord " Esau 
fights with Jacob and prevails not. In Genesis xxxii. the God-Sun first 
strives with Jacob, breaks his thigh (a phallic symbol) and yet is defeated 
by his terrestrial type — matter ; and the Sun-God rises on Jacob and his 
thigh in covenant. All these biblical personages, their "Lord God' 
included, are types represented in an allegorical sequence. Th<?y are 
types of Life and Death, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, of Matter 
and Spirit in their synthesis, all these being under their contrasted 
aspects. 

iBwara (Sk.). The " Lord " or the personal god — divine Spirit in man. 
Lit., sovereign (independent) existence. A title given to Siva and other 
gods in India. Siva is also called Iswaradeva, or sovereign dcva. 

Ithyphalllo (Gr.). Quahfication of the gods as males and hermaphro- 
dites, such as the bearded Venus, Apollo in woman's clothes, Amtnon the 
generator, the embryonic Ptah. and so on. Yet the phallus, so con- 
spicuous and, according to our prim notions, so indecent, in the Indian and 
Egyptian religious, was associated in the earliest symbology far more 
with another and much purer idea Ihan that of sexual creation. As shown by 
many an Orientalist, it expressed murredion, the rising in life from deatii. 
Even the other meaning had nought indecent in it : " These images only 
symbolise in a very expressive manner the creative force of nature, with- 
out obscene intention," writes Mariette Bey, and adds, " It is but another 
way to express celestial generation, which should cause tlie deceased to 



GLOSSARY 159 

enter into a new life". Christians and Eiirop3ans are wiry hird on the 
phallic symbols of the ancients. The nude gods and goddesses and their 
generative emblems and statuary have secret departments assigned to 
them in our museums ; why then adopt and preserve the same symbols for 
Clergy and Laity ? The love -feasts in the early Church — its agapa: — were 
as pure (or as impure) as the Phallic festivals of the Pagans ; the long 
priestly robes of the Roman and Greek Churches, and the long hair of the 
latter, the //o/ya'^/^y sprinklers and the rest, are there to show that Chris- 
tian ritualism has preserved in more or less modified forms all the sym- 
bolism of old Egypt. As to the symbolism of a purely feminine nature, we are 
bound to confess that in the sight of every impartial archaeologist the 
half nude toilets of our cultured ladies of Society are far more suggestive 
of female-sex worship than are the rows of yoni-shaped lamps, lit along 
the highways to temples in India. 

lurbo Adunai. A Gnostic term, or the compound name for lao- 
Jehovah, whom the Ophites regarded as an emanation of their Ilda-Baolh, 
the Son of Sophia Achamoth — the proud, ambitious and jealous god, 
and impure Spirit, whom many of the Gnostic sects regarded as the god 
of Moses. ** lurbo is called by the Abortions (the Jews) Adunai " 
says the Codex Nazaraus (vol. iii., p. 13.) The "Abortions" and 
Abortives was the nickname given to the Jews by their opponents the 
Gnostics. 

lu-Kabar Zivo (Gn,), Known also as Nebat-Iavar-bar-Iufin-Ifafin, 
**Lord of the iEons" in the Nazarene System. He is the procrcator 
(Em ana tor) of the seven holy lives (the seven primal Dhyan Chohans, or 
Archangels, each representing one of the cardinal Virtues), and is himself 
called the third life (third Logos). In the Codex he is addressed as ** the 
Helm and Vine of the food of life". Thus, he is identical with Christ 
(Christos) who says ** I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husband- 
man "(John XV. i). It is well known that Christ is regarded in the Roman 
Catholic Church as the ** chief of the /Eons ", and also as Michael ** who 
is like god ". Such was also the belief of the Gnostics. 

Iwaldi (Sca}id.), The dwarf whose sons fabricated for Odin the 
magic spear. One of the subterranean master-smiths who, together 
with other gnomes, contrived to make an enchanted sword for the great 
war-god Cheru. This two-edged-sword figures in the legend of the 
Emperor Vitellius, who got it from the god, **to his own hurt ", according 
to the oracle of a ** wise woman", neglected it and was finally killed 
with it at the foot of the capitol, by a German soldier who had purloined 
the weapon. The ** sword of the war-god " has a long biography, since 
it also re-appears in the half-legendary biography of Attila. Having 
married against her ^vill Ildikd, the beautiful daughter of the King of 



l6o THEOSOPHICAL 

Burgundy whom he had slain, his bride gets the magic sword from a 
mysterious old woman, and with it kills the King of the Hims. 

Izdubar. A name of a hero in the fragments of Chaldean History 
and Theogony on the so-called Assyrian tiles, as read by the late George 
Smith and others. Smith seeks to identify Izdubar with Nimrod. 
Such may or may not be the case ; but as the name of that Babylonian 
King itself only " appears " as Izdubar, his identification with the son 
of Cush may also turn out more apparent than real. Scholars are but 
too apt to check their archaeological discoveries by the far later state- 
ments found in the Mosaic books, instead of acting vice versa. The 
** chosen people *' have been fond at all periods of history of helping 
themselves to other people's property. From the appropriation of the 
early history of Sargon, King of Akkad, and its wholesale application to 
Moses born (if at all) some thousands of years later, down to their 
** spoiling " the Egyptians under the direction and divine advice of their 
Lord God, the whole Pentateuch seems to be made up of unacknowledged 
mosaical fragments from other people's Scriptures. This ought to have 
made Assyriologists more cautious ; but as many of these belong to the 
clerical caste, such coincidences as that of Sargon affect them very 
little. One thing is certain : Izdubar, or whatever may be his name, is 
shown in all the tablets as a mighty giant who towered in size above all 
other men as a cedar towers over brushwood — a hunter, according to 
cuneiform legends, who contended with, and destroyed the lion, tiger, 
wild bull, and buffalo, the most formidable animals. 



GLOSSARY l6l 



J. 

J . — The tenth letter in the English and Hebrew alphabet, in the 
latter of which it is equivalent to j, and /, and is numerically numl>er 
lo, the perfect number (See Jodh and Yodh), or one. (See also I.) 

Jabalas (Sk.J, Students of the mystical portion of the Whitf Yajur 
Veda. 

Jachin (Heh.), »* In Hebrew letters IKIN, from the root KUN 
** to establish ", and the symbolical name of one of the Pillars at the 
porch of King Solomon's Temple " [w. w. w.] . 

The other pillar was called Boaz, and the two were respectively 
white and black. They correspond to several mystic ideas, one 
of which is that they represent the dual Manas or the higher and the 
lower Ego ; another connected these two pillars in Slavonian mysticism 
with God and the Devil, to the ** White" and the ** Black God" or Byeloy 
Bof^ and Tclurnoy Bog, (See *' Yakin and Boaz" infra), 

Jacobites. A Christian sect in Syria of the Vlth cent. (550), which 
held that Christ had only one nature and that confession was not of 
divine origin. They had secret signs, passwords and a solemn initiation 
with mysteries. 

Jadoo (Hind,), Sorcery, black magic, enchantment. 

Jadoojar (Hind.), A Sorcerer, or Wizard. 

Jagaddhatri (Sk.J, Substance ; the name of " the nurse of the 
world", the designation of the power which carried Krishna and his 
brother Balarama into Devaki, their mother's bosom. A title of Saras- 
vati and Durga. 

Jagad-Yoni (Sk.). The womb of the world ; space. 

Jagat (Sk.J, The Universe. 

Jagan-Natha (Sk.j, Lit,, '* Lord of the World", a title of Vishnu, 
ii'he great image of Jagan-natha on its car, commonly pronounced and 
spelt Jagernath. The idol is that of Vishnu Krishna. Puri, near the 
town of Cuttack in Orissa, is the great seat of its worship ; and twice a 
year an immense number of pilgrims attend the festivals of the SnAna- 
yatra and Ratha-yatra. During the first, the image is bathed, and 
during the second it is placed on a car, between the images of Balarama the 
brother, and Subhadrd the sister of Krishna and the huge vehicle is 

L 



l62 THEOSOPHICAL 

drawn by the devotees, who deem it felicity to be crushed to death 
under it. 

Janata (Sk.J. The waking state of consciousness. When mentioned 
in Yoga philosophy, Jagrata-avastha is the waking condition, one of the 
four states of Pranava in ascetic practices, as used by the Yogis. 

J&hnavi (Sh,), A name of Ganga^ or the river Ganges. 

Jahva Alhim (Heb.). The name that in Genesis replaces ** Alhim '*, 
or Elohim, the gods. It is used in chapter I., while in chapter 
II. the '* Lord God" or Jehovah steps in. In P2soteric philosophy and 
exoteric tradition, Jahva Alhim {Java Aleim) was the title of the chief of 
the Hierophants, who initiated into the good and the evil of this world 
in the college of priests known as the Aleim College in the land of Gan- 
dunya or Babylonia. Tradition and rumour assert, that the chief of 
the temple Fo-maiyu, called Foh-tchou (teacher of Buddhist law), a 
temple situated in the fastnesses of the creat mount of Kouenlong-sang 
(between China and Tibet), teaches once every three vears under a tree 
called Snng-Min-Shiiy or the ** Tree of Knowledge and (the tree) of 
life ", which is the Bo (Bodhi) tree of Wisdom. 

Jaimini (Sk,). A great sage, a disciple of Vytisa, the transmitter and 
teacher of the Sama Veda which as claimed he received from his Guru. 
He is also the famous founder and writer of the Purva Mimansa 
philosophy. 

Jaina Cross. The same as the ** Swastika " (q.v,), ** Thor's hammer " 
also, or the Hermetic cross. 

Jainas (Sk.j. A large religious body in India closely resembling 
Buddhism, but who preceded it by long centuries. They claim that 
Gautama, the Buddha, was a disciple of one of their Tirtankaras, or 
Saints. They deny the authority of the Vedas and the existence of any 
P$rsonal supreme god, but believe in the eternity of matter, the periodicity 
of the universe and the immortality of men's minds (Manas) as also 
of that of the animals. An extremely mystic sect. 

Jalarupa (^5^.^. Lit,, ** water-body, or form". One of the names of 
Makara (the sign capricornus). It is one of the most occult and mysterious 
of the Zodiacal signs ; it figures on the banner of Kama, god of love, and 
is connected with our immortal Egos. (See Secret Doctrine,) 

Jambu-dwipa (Sk,), One of the main divisions of the globe, in the 
Pur^nic system. It includes India. Some say that it was a continent, 
— others an island — or one of the seven islands (Sapta dwipa). It is ** the 
dominion of Vishnu". In its astronomical and mystic sense it is the 
name of our globe, separated by the plane of objectivity from the si.\ 
other globes of our planetary chain, 



GLOSSARY 1^)3 

Jamin (Heh,), The right side of a man, esteemed the most worthy. 
Benjamin means ** son of the right side '', i.e., testis. [w. w. w.] 

Janaka (Sk.). One of the Kings of Mithila of the Solar race. He 
was a great royal sage, and lived twenty generations before Janaka the 
father of Sita who was King of Videha. 

Jana-loka (Sk,). The world wherein the Munis (the Saints) are supposed 
to dwell after their corporeal death (See Pur anas). Also a terrestrial 
locality. 

Janarddana {Sk.). Lit., '* the adored of mankind", a title of 
Krishna. 

Japa {Sk.). A mystical practice of certain Yogis. It consists in the 
repetition of various magical formula? and mantras. 

Jaras {Sk.). '* Old Age ". The allegorical name of the hunter who 
killed Krishna by mistake, a name showing the great ingenuity of the 
Brahmans and the symbolical character of the World-Scriptures in 
general. As Dr. Crucefix, a high mason well says, ** to preserve the 
occult mysticism of their order from all except their own class, the priests 
invented symbols and hieroglyphics to embody sublime truths ". 

Jatayu {Sk.). The Son of Garuda. The latter is the great cycle, or 
Mahakalpa symbolized by the giant bird which served as a steed for 
Vishnu, and other gods, when related to space and time. Jatayu is 
called in the Ramayana ** the King of the feathered tribe ". For defend- 
ing Sita carried away by Ravana, the giant king of Lanka, he was killed 
by him. Jatayu is also called ** the king of the vultures ". 

Javidan Khirad (Pets.). A work on moral precepts. 

Jayas (Sk.). The twelve great gods in the Piirdnas who neglect to 
create men, and are therefore, cursed by Brahma to be reborn ** in every 
(racial) Manvantara till the seventh ". Another form or aspect of the re- 
incarnating Egos. 

Jebal Djudi (Arab.). The ** Deluge Mountain " of the Arabic legends. 
The same as Ararat, and the Babylonian Mount of Nizir where Xisuthrus 
landed with his ark. 

Jehovah (Hcb.). The Jewish ** Deity name J'hovah, is a compound 
of two words, viz of J ah (y, i, or j, Yodh, the tenth letter of the alphabet) 
Tkudhovah (Havah, or Eve)," says a Kabalistic authority, Mr. J. Ralston 
Skinner of Cincinnati, U.S.A. And again, " The word Jehovah, or Jah- 
Eve^ has the primary meaning of existence or being as male female ". 
It means Kabalistically the latter, indeed, and nothing more ; and as 
repeatedly shown is entirely phallic. Thus, verse 26 in the IVth chapter 
of Genesis, reads in its disfigured translation ....** then began 
men to call upon the name of the Lord ", whereas it ought to read 



164 TIIKOSOPHKAL 

correctly ....** then began men to call themselves by the name 
of Jah'hcrvah " or males and females, which they had become after the 
separation of sexes. In fact the latter is described in the same chapter, 
when Cain (the male or Jah) ** rose up against Abel, his (sister^ not) brother 
and slew him " {spilt his bloody in the original). Chapter IV of Genesis 
contains in truth, the allegorical narrative of that period of anthropo- 
logical and physiological evolution which is described in the Secret 
Doctrine when treating of the third Root race of mankind. It is followed 
by Chapter \ as a blind ; but ought to be succeeded by Chapter VI, 
where the Sons of God took as their wives the daughters of men or of 
the giants. For this is an allegory hinting at the mystery of the Divine 
Egos incarnating in mankind, after which the hitherto senseless races 
" became mighty men, . . . men of renown " (v. 4), having acquired 
minds (manas) which they had not before. 

Jehovah Nissi (Heb,). The androgyne of Nissi (See **Dionysos"). The 
Jews worshipped under this name Bacchus-Osiris, Dio-Nysos, and the 
multiform Joves of Nyssa, the Sinai of Moses. Universal tradition shews 
Bacchus reared in a cave of Nysa. Diodoriis locates Nysa between 
Phoenicia and Egypt, and adds, *' Osiris was brought up in Nysa 
. . . . he was son of Zeus and was named from his father (nomina- 
tive Zeus, genitive Dios) and the place Dio-nysos'' — the Zeus -or Jove 
of Nyssa. 

Jerusalem, Jerosalem (Septuag,) and Hierosolyma (Vulgate). In Hebrew 
it is written Yrshlim or ** city of peace ", but the ancient Greeks called it 
pertinently Hierosalem or ** Secret Salem ", since Jerusalem is a rebirth 
from Salem of which Melchizedek was the King-Hierophant, a declared 
Astrolator and worshipper of the Sun,' ** the Most High " by-the-bye. 
There also Adoni-Zedek reigned in his turn, and was the last of its 
Amorite Sovereigns. He allied himself with four others, and these five 
kings went to conquer back Gideon, but (according to Joshua X) came out 
of the affray second best. And no wonder, since these five kings were 
opposed, not only by Joshua but by the ** Lord God ", and by the Sun 
and the Moon also. On that day, we read, at the command of the 
successor of Moses, "the sun stood still and the moon stayed" (v. 13) 
for the whole day. No mortal man, king or yeoman, could withstand, of 
course, such a shower ** of great stones from heaven " as was cast upon 
them by the Lord himself .... ** from Bet h-horon unto Azekah" 
. . . . ** and they died " (v. 11). After having died they *' fled and 
hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah *' (v. 16). It appears, however, 
that such undignified behaviour in a God received its Karmic punish- 
ment afterwards. At different epochs of history, the Temple of the Jewish 
Lord was sacked, ruined and burnt (See ** Mount Moriah ") — holy ark of 



GLOSSARY 165 

the covenant, cherubs, Shekinah and all, but that deity seemed as power- 
less to protect his property from desecration as though they were no 
more stones left in heaven. After Pompey had taken the Second 
Temple in 63, B.C., and the third one, built by Herod the Great, had 
been razed to the ground by the Romans, in 70 a.d., no new temple was 
allowed to be built in the capital of the ** chosen people" of the Lord. 
In spite of the Crusades, since the Xlllth century Jerusalem has 
belonged to the Mahommedans, and almost every site holy and dear to 
the memory of the old Israelites, and also of the Christians, is now covered 
by minarets and moscjues, Turkish barracks and other monuments of 
Islam. 

Jesod (Heh.), Foundation ; the ninth of the Ten Sephiroth, a mascu- 
line active potency, completing the six which form the Microprosoptts. 

[vv. w. w.] 

Jetzirah (Ilcb.). See ** Yctzirah ". 

Jetzirah, Sep her : or Book of the C nation. The most occult of all 
the Kabalistic works now in the possession of modern mystics. Its 
alleged origin, of having been written by Abraham, is of course nonsense ; 
but its intrinsic value is great. It is composed of six Perakim (chapters), 
subdivided into thirty-three short Mishnas or Sections ; and treats of the 
evolution of the Universe on a system of correspondences and numbers. 
Deity is said therein to have formed (*' created ") the Universe by 
means of numbers ** by thirty-two paths (or ways) of secret wisdom ", 
these ways being made to correspond with the twenty-two letters of the 
Hebrew alphabet and the ten fundamental numbers. These ten are the 
primordial numbers whence proceeded the whole Universe, and these are 
followed by the twenty-two letters divided into lliree MotlurSy the seven 
double consonants and the twelve simple consonants. He who would 
well understand the system is advised to read the excellent little treatise 
upon Sepher Jetzirah, by Dr. \V. Wynn Westcott. (See ** Vetzirah ".) 

Jhana (Sk,) or Jnana, Knowledge ; Occult Wisdom. 

Jhana Bhaskara (Sk,). A work on Asuramaya, the Atlantean 
astronomer and magician, and other prehistoric legends. 

Jijten Gonpo (Tib,), A name of Avalokiteswara, or Chenresi-Padma- 
pani, the ** Protector against Evil ". 

Jishnu (Sk,), *' Leader of the Celestial 4-Iost ", a title of Indra, who, 
in the War of the Gods with the Asuras, led the ** host of devas ". He 
is the ** Michael, the leader of the Archangels" of India. 

Jiva (Sk.), l^ife, as the Absolute ; the Monad also or ** Alma-Huddhi ". 

Jivanmukta (Sk,), An adept or yogi who has reached the ultimate 
state of holiness, and separated himself from matter ; a Mahatma, or 



166 THEOSOPHlCAL 

Nirvanee, a ** dweller in bliss ' and emancipation. Virtually one who 
has reached Nirvana during life. 

Jivatma (Sk,), The one universal life, generally ; but also the divine 
Spirit in Man. 

Jn&nam (Sk.J. The same as ** Gnana ", etc., the same as *' Jhana " 
(q,v.). 

Jn&nendriyas (Sk.J. The five channels of knowledge. 

Jn&na Sakti (Sk.J, The power of intellect. 

Jord. In Northern Germany the goddess of the Earth, the same as 
Nerthus and the Scandinavian Freya or Frigg. 

Jotunheim (Scand,), The land of the Hrimthurses or Frost-giants. 

Jotuns (Scand.j, The Titans or giants. Mimir, who taught Odin 
magic, the ** thrice wise '*, was a Jotun. 

Jul (Scand,), The wheel of the Sun from whence Yuletide, which was 
sacred to Freyer, or Fro, the Sun-god, the ripener of the fields and fruits^ 
admitted later to the circle of the Ases. As god of sunshine and fruitful 
harvests he lived in the Home of the Light Elves. 

Jupiter (Lat.J, From the same root as the Greek Zeus, the greatest 
god of the ancient Greeks and Romans, adopted also by other nations. 
His names are among others: (i) Jupiter-Aerios ; (2) Jupiter-Ammon of 
Egypt ; (3) Jupiter Bel-Moloch, the Chaldean ; (4) Jupiter-Mundus, 
Deus Mundus, ** God of the World " ; (5) Jupiter-Fulgur, ** the 
Fulgurant ", etc., etc. 

Jyotisha (Sk,), Astronomy and Astrology ; one of the Vedangas. 

Jyotisham Jyotch (Sk,). The " light of lights ", the Supreme Spirit, 
so called in the Upanishads, 

Jyotsna (Sk,), Dawn ; one of the bodies assumed by Jirahma ; the 
morning twilight. 



GLOSSARY 167 



K 

Jl\.» — The eleventh letter in both the It^n^lish and the Hebrew alphabets. 
As a numeral it stands in the latter for 20, and in the former for 250, 

and with a stroke over it (K) for 250,000. The Kabalists and the Masons 
appropriate the word Kodesh or Kadosh as the name of the Jewish god 
under this letter. 

Ka (Sk,j, According to Max Muller, the interrogative pronoun 
'* who ? "- raised to the dignity of a deity without cause or reason. Still 
it has its esoteric significance and is a name of Brahma in his phallic 
character as generator or Prajdpaii (q»v,), 

Kabah or Kaaba (Arab.), The name of the famous Mahommedan 
temple at Megca, a great place of pilgrimage. The edifice is not large 
but very original ; of a cubical form 23 x 24 cubits in length and breadth 
and 27 cubits high, with only one aperture on the East side to admit 
light. In the north-east corner is the ** black stone" of Kaaba, said to 
liave been lowered down direct from heaven and to have been as white 
as snow, but subsequently it became black, owing to the sins of mankind 
The ** white stone", the reputed tomb of Ismael, is in the north side and 
the place of Abraham is to the east. If, as the Mahommedans claim, 
this temple w^as, at the prayer of Adam after his exile, transferred by 
Allah or Jehovah direct from Eden down to earth, then the " heathen " 
may truly claim to have far exceeded the divine primordial architecture in 
the beauty of their edifices. 

Kabalist. From Q B L H, Kabala, an unwritten or oral tradition. 
The kabalist is a student of*' secret science", one who interprets the hidden 
meaning of the Scriptures with the help of the symboHcal Kahala^ and 
explains the real one by these means. The Tanaim were the first 
kabalists among the Jews ; they appeared at Jerusalem about the begin- 
ning of the third century before the Christian era. The books of Ezekiel^ 
Daniel^ Henoch, and the Revelation of St. John, are purely kabalistical. 
This secret doctrine is identical with that of the Chaldeans, and includes 
at the same time much of the Persian wisdom, or ** magic". History 
catches glimpses of famous kabalists ever since the eleventh century. 
The Mediaeval ages, and even our own times, have had an enormous 
number of the most learned and intellectual men who were students of 
the Kabala (or Qabbalah, as some spell it). The most famous among the 
former were I'aracelsus, Henry Khunrath, Jacob Bohmen, Robert Fludd, 



l68 THEOSOPHlCAL 



• 



the two Van Helmonts, the Abbot John Trithemius, CorneHus Agrippa, 
Cardinal Nicolao Cusani, Jerome Garden, Pope Sixtus IV., and such 
Christian scholars as Raymond Lully, Giovanni Pico de la Mirandola, 
Guillaume Postel, the great John Reuchlin, Dr. Henry More, Eugenius 
Philalethes (Thomas Vaughan), the erudite Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, 
Christian Knorr (Baron) von Rosenroth ; then Sir Isaac Newton, 
Leibniz, Lord Bacon, Spinosa, etc., etc., the list being almost inex- 
haustible. As remarked by Mr. Isaac Myer, in his Qahhalah, the ideas 
of the Kabalists have largely influenced European literature. ** Upon the 
practical Qabbalah, the Abbe de Villars (nephew of de Montfaucon) in 
1670, published his celebrated satirical novel, * The Count de Gabalis*, 
upon which Pope based his * Rape of the Lock \ Qabbalism ran 
through the Mediaeval poems, the * Romance of the Rose ', and per- 
meates the writings of Dante." No two of them, however, agreed upon 
the origin of the Kabala, the Zohar, Scplur Yetzirah, etc. Some show it 
as coming from the Biblical Patriarchs, Abraham, and even Seth ; others 
from Egypt, others again from Chaldea. The system is certainly very 
old ; but like all the rest of systems, whether religious or philosophical, 
the Kabala is derived directly from the primeval Secret Doctrine of the 
East ; through the Vedas, the Upanishads, Orpheus and Thales, Pytha- 
goras and the Egyptians. Whatever its source, its substratum is at any 
rate identical with that of all the other systems from the Book of tJu Dead 
down to the later Gnostics. The best exponents of the Kabala in the 
Theosophical Society were among the earliest, Dr. S. Pancoast, of 
Philadelphia, and Mr. G. Felt ; and among the latest, Dr. W. Wynn 
Westcott, Mr. S. L. Mac Gregor Mathers (both of the Rosicrucian 
College) and a few others. (See ** Qabbalah ".) 

Kabalistic Faoes. These are Nephesch, Ruach and Neschamah, or 
the animal (vital), the Spiritual and the Divine Souls in man — Body, Soul 
and Mind. 

Kabalah (Heb,), The hidden wisdom of the Hebrew Rabbis of the 
middle ages derived from the older secret doctrines concerning divine 
things and cosmogony, w^hich were combined into a theology after 
the time of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. All the works that 
fall under the esoteric category are termed Kabalistic. 

Kabiri (Phan,), or the Kabirim. Deities and very mysterious gods 
with the ancient nations, including the Israelites, some of whom — as 
Terah, Abram's father — worshipped them under the name of Teraphim, 
With the Christians, however, they are now devils, although the modern 
Archangels are the direct transformation of these same Kabiri. In 
Hebrew the latter name means '* the imghiy ones' \ Gibboriin, At one 
time all the deities connected with fire — whether they were divine, 
infernal or volcanic — were called Kabirian. 



GLOSSARY l6y 

Kadmon (HebJ. Archetypal man. See *' Adam Kadmon". 

Kadosh (Heb.). Consecrated, holy; also written /iTo^^s//. Something 
set apart for temple worship. But between the etymological meaning of 
the word, and its subsequent significance in application to the Kadeshim 
(the " priests " set apart for certain temple rites) — there is an abyss. The 
words Kadosh and Kadeshim are used in II. Kings as rather an opprobrious 
name, for the Kadeshuth of the Bible were identical in their office and 
duties with the Nautch girls of some Hindu temples. They were Gallic 
the mutilated priests of the lascivious rites of Venus Astarte, who lived 
** by the house of the Lord ". Curiously enough the terms Kadosh^ etc., 
were appropriated and used by several degrees of Masonic knighthood. 

Kailasa (Sk.). In metaphysics ** heaven ", the abode of gods; 
geographically a mountain range in the Himalayas, north of the 
Mansaravara lake, called also lake Manasa. 

Kailem (Heb.). Lit., vessels or vehicles; the vases for the source of 
the Waters of Life ; used of the Ten Scphiroth, considered as the 
primeval nuclei of all Kosmic Forces. Some Kabalists regard them as 
manifesting in the universe through twenty-two canals, which are 
represented by the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, thus 
making with the Ten Sephiroth thirty-two paths of wisdom, [w. w. w.] 

Kaimarath (Pets,), The last of the race of the prehuman kings. He 
is identical with Adam Kadmon. A fabulous Persian hero. 

Kakodsmon (Gr,), The evil genius as opposed to Agathodamon, the 
good genius, or deity. A Gnostic term. 

Kala (Sk,), A measure of time; four hours, a period of thirty 
Kashthas. 

Kala (Sk,). Time, fate; a cycle and a proper name, or title given to 
Yama, King of the nether world and Judge of the Dead. 

Kalabhana (Sk,), The same as Taraka (See Secret Doctrine^ Vol. H., 
p. 382, foot-note). 

Kalagni (Sk,), The flame of time. A divine Being created by Siva, 
a monster with 1,000 heads. A title of Siva meaning ** the fire of fate *\ 

Kalahansa or Hamsa (Sk,), A mystic title given to Brahma (or 
Parabrahman) ; means ** the swan in and out of time ". Brahma (male) 
is called Hansa-Vahan, the vehicle of the ** Swan ". 

Kalavingka (Sk,), also Knravikaya and Karanda, etc. '* The sweet- 
voiced bird of immortality ". Eitel identifies it with cuculus nielanoleicus, 
though the bird itself is allegorical and non-existent. Its voice is heard 
at a certain stage of Dhyana in Yoga practice. It is said to have 
awakened King Bimbisara and thus saved him from the sting of a cobra. 
In its esoteric meaning this sweet-voiced bird is our Higher Ego. 



170 THhOSOPHlCAL 

Kalevala. The Finnish Epic of Creation. 

Kali (Sk.), The ** black'*, now the name of Parvati, the consort of 
Siva, but originally that of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the god of 
fire — ** the black, fiery tongue ". Evil and wickedness. 

Kalidasa (Sk,). The greatest poet and dramatist of India. 

Kaliya (Sk,). The five-headed serpent killed by Krishna in his 
childhood. A mystical monster symbolizing the passions of man — the 
river or water being a symbol of matter. 

Kaliyuga (Sk.), The fourth, the hlaek or iron age, our present period, 
the duration of which is 432,000 years. The last of the ages into 
which the evolutionary period* of man is divided by a series of such 
ages. It began 3,102 years h.c. at the moment of Krishna's death, and 
the first cycle of 5,000 years will end between the years 1897 ^^^ 1898. 

Kalki Avatar (Sk.), The ** White Horse Avatar ", which will be the 
last manvantaric incarnation of Vishnu, according to the Brahmins ; 
of Maitreya Buddha, agreeably to Northern Buddhists; of Sosiosh, the 
last hero and Saviour of the Zoroastrians, as claimed by Parsis ; and of 
the ** Faithful and True " on the white Horse (^Rev. xix., 2). In his future 
epiphany or tenth avatar, the heavens will open and Vishnu will appear 
*' seated on a milk-white stee J, with a drawn sword blazmg like a comet, 
for the final destruction of the wicked, the renovation of * creation' 
and the * restoration of purity'"'. (Compare Revelation.) This will take 
place at the end of the Kaliyuga 427,000 years hence. The latter end 
of every Yuga is called **the destruction of the world ", as then the earth 
changes each time its outward form, submerging one set of continents 
and upheaving another set. 

Kalluka Bhatta (Sk.J. A commentator of the Hindu Manu Smriti 
Scriptures ; a well-known writer and historian. 

Kalpa (Sk.). The period of a mundane revolution, generally a cycle 
of time, but usually, it represents a ** day " and ** night " of Brahma a 
period of 4,320,000,000 years. 

Kama (Sk.) Evil desire, lust, voUtion ; the cleaving to existence. 
Kama is generally identified with Mara^ the tempter. 

Kamadeva (Sk.). In the popular notions the god of love, a Visva- 
deva, in the Hindu Pantheon. As the Eros of Hesiod, degraded into 
Cupid by exoteric law, and still more degraded by a later popular sense 
attributed to the term, so is Kama a most mysterious and metaphysical 
subject. The earlier V^edic description of Kama alone gives the key-note 
to what he emblematizes. Kama is the first conscious, all embracing desire 
for universal good, love, and for all that lives and feels, needs help and 
kindness, the first feeling of infinite tender compassion and mercy that 



GLOSSARY 171 

arose in the consciocisness of tiie creative One Force, as soon as it 
came into life and being as a ray from the Absoi-utk. Says the Riff 
Veda, ** Desire first arose in It, which was the primal ^erm of mind, 
and which Sages, searching with their intellect, have discovered in their 
heart to be the bond which connects Entity with non-Entity ", or Manas 
with pure Atma-Buddhi. There is no idea of sexual love in the concep- 
tion. Kama is pre-eminently the divine desire of creating happiness 
and love ; and it is only ages later, as mankind began to materialize by 
anthropomorphization its grandest ideals into cut and dried dogmas, that 
Kama became the power that gratifies desire on the animal plane. This 
is shown by what every Veda and some Brahmanas say. In the 
Atharva Veda, Kama is represented as the Supreme Deity and Creator. 
In the Taitariya Brahmana, he is the child of Dharma, the god of Law and 
Justice, of Sraddha and faith. In another account he springs from the 
heart of Brahnui. Others show him born from water, /.«•., from primordial 
chaos, or the *'Deep". Hence one of his many names, Im-ja, ** the 
water-born"; 7\i\(l Aja, *' unborn " ; and Aimahhti or '* Self-existent ". 
Because of the sign of Makara (Capricornus) on his banner, he is also 
called *' Makara Ketu ''. The allegory about Siva, the '* Great Yogin ", 
reducing Kama to ashes by the fire from his central (or third) Eye, for 
inspiring the Mahadeva with thoughts of his wife, while he was at his 
devotions — is very suggestive, as it is said that he thereby reduced Kama 
to his primeval spiritual form. 

Kamadhatu (Sk,). Called also Kamdvatchara, a region including 
Kamaloka. In exoteric ideas it is the first of the Trailokya — or three 
regions (applied also to celestial beings) or seven planes or degrees, each 
broadly represented by one of the three chief characteristics; namely, 
Kama, Riipa SindAyiipa, or those of desire, form and formlessness. The 
first of the Trailokyas, Kamadhciiii, is tlms composed of the earth and 
the six inferior Devalokas, the earth being followed by Kamaloka (q^v,). 
These taken together constitute the seven degrees of the material world 
of form and sensuous gratification. The second of the Trailokya (or 
Trilokya) is called Rupadhdtu or ** material form " and is also composed 
of seven Lokas (or localities). The third is A rupadhdtu or ** inunaterial 
lokas". ** Locality", however, is an incorrect word to use in translating 
the term dhdtu, which does not mean in some of its special applications a 
** place " at all. For instance, A rupadhdtu is a purely subjective world, a 
** state " rather than a place. But as the European tongues have no 
adequate metaphysical terms to express certain ideas, we can only point 
out the difficulty. 

Kamaloka (Sk,), The s^w/- material plane, to us subjective and 
invisible, where the disembodied '* personahties", the astral forms, called 



172 THEOSOPHICAL 

Kamarupa remain, until they fade out from it by the complete exhaustion 
of the effects of the mental impulses that created these eidolons of 
human and animal passions and desires. (See " Kamarupa ".) It is the 
Hades of the ancient Greeks and the Amenti of the Egyptians, the land 
of Silent Shadows ; a division of the first group of the Trailohya, (See 
" Kamadhatu ".) 

Kamarupa (Sk.), Metaphysically, and in our esoteric philosophy, it 
is the subjective form created through the mental and physical desires 
and thoughts in connection with things of matter, by all sentient beings, 
a form which survives the death of their bodies. After that death three 
of the seven *' principles " — or let us say planes of senses and conscious- 
ness on which the human instincts and ideation act in turn — m., 
the body, its astral prototype and physical vitality, — being of no further 
use, remain on earth ; the three higher principles, grouped into one, 
merge into the state of Devachan (q*v.), in which state the Higher Ego 
will remain until the hour for a new reincarnation arives ; and the eidolon 
of the ex-Personality is left alone in its new abode. Here, the pale copy 
of the man that was, vegetates for a period of time, the duration of 
which is variable and according to the element of materiality which is 
left in it, and which is determined by the past life of the defunct. Bereft 
as it is of its higher mind, spirit and physical senses, if left alone to its 
own senseless devices, it will gradually fade out and disintegrate. But, 
if forcibly drawn back into the terrestrial sphere whether by the 
passionate desires and appeals of the surviving friends or by regular 
necromantic practices — one of the most pernicious of which is medium - 
ship — the ** spook " may prevail for a period greatly exceeding the span 
of the natural life of its body. Once the Kamarupa has learnt the way 
back to living human bodies, it becomes a vampire, feeding on the vitality 
of those who are so anxious for its company. In India these eidolons are 
called PisdchaSj and are much dreaded, as already explained elsewhere. 

Kamea (Heb.J, An amulet, generally a magic square. 

Kandu (Sk,). A holy sage of the second root-race, a yogi, whom 
Pramlocha, a ** liymph " sent by Indra for that purpose, beguiled, and 
lived with for several centuries. Finally, the Sage returning to his 
senses, repudiated and chased her away. Whereupon she gave birth to 
a daughter, Marisha. The story is in an allegorical fable from the 
Pur anas, 

Kanishka (Sk.), A King of the Tochari, who flourished when the 
third Buddhist Synod met in Kashmir, i.e,y about the middle of the last 
century B.C., a great patron of Buddhism, he built the finest stupas or 
dagobas in Northern India and Kabulistan. 



GLOSSARY 173 

Kanishthas (Sk,). A class of gods which will manifest in the four- 
teenth or last manvantara of our world — according to the Hindus. 

Kanya (Sk,). A virgin or maiden. Kanya Kumdrt ** the virgin- 
maiden " is a title of Durga-Kali, worshipped by the Thugs and 
Tantrikas. 

Kapila Rishi (Sk.), A great sage, a great adept of antiquity ; the 
author of the Sankhya philosophy. 

Kapilavastu (Sk,), The birth-place of the Lord Buddha ; called 
** the yellow dwelling " : the capital of the monarch who was the father 
of Gautama Buddha. 

Karabtanos (Gr.), The spirit of blind or animal desire ; the symbol 
of Kama-rupa. The Spirit '* without sense or judgment " in the Codex 
of the Nazarenes. He is the symbol of matter and stands for the father 
of the seven spirits of concupiscence begotten by him on his mother, the 
*' Spiritus " or the Astral Light. 

Karam (Sk.), A great festival in honour of the Sun-Spirit with the 
Kolarian tribes. 

K&rana (Sk,), Cause (metaphysically). 

Karana Sarfra (Sk.). The ** Causal body ". Itis dual in its meaning. 
Exoterically, it is Avidya, ignorance, or that which is the cause of the 
evolution of a human ego and its reincarnation ; hence the lower Manas 
esoterically — the causal body or Karanopadhi stands in the Taraka Raja- * 
yoga as corresponding to Buddhi and the Higher ** Manas," or Spiritual 
Soul. 

Karanda (Sk,). The *' sweet -voiced bird," the same as Kalavingka (q.v.) 

K&ranopadhi (Sk,). The basis or upadhi of Karana, the ** causal 
soul ". In Taraka Kajayoga, it corresponds with both Manas dind Buddhi. 
See Table in the Secret Doctrine^ Vol. L, p. 157. 

Kardecists. The followers of the spiritistic system of Allan Kardec, 
the Frenchman who founded the modern movement of the Spiritist 
School. The Spiritists of France differ from the American and English 
Spiritualists in that their ** Spirits " teach reincarnation, while those of 
the United States and Great Britain denounce this belief as a heretical 
fallacy and abuse and slander those who accept it. *' When Spirits 
disagree . . ." 

Karma (Sk.), Physically, action : metaphysically, the Law of 
Retkibuticn, the Law of cause and effect or Ethical Causation. Nemesis, 
only in one sense, that of bad Karma. It is the eleventh Nidana in the 
concatenation of causes and effects in orthodox Buddhism ; yet it is the 
power that controls all things, the resultant of moral action, the meta- 
physical Samskara, or the moral effect of an act committed for the 




174 THEOSOPHICAL 

attainment of something which gratifies a personal desire. There is the 
Karma of merit and the Karma of demerit. Karma neither punishes 
nor rewards, it is simply the one Universal Law which guides unerringly, 
and, so to say, blindly, all other laws productive of certain effects along 
the grooves of their respective causations. When Buddhism teaches 
that ** Karma is that moral kernel (of any being) which alone survives 
death and continues in transmigration '' or reincarnation, it simply 
means that there remains nought after each Personality but the causes 
produced by it ; causes which are undying, /.^., which cannot be elimin- 
ated from the Universe until replaced by their legitimate effects, and 
wiped out by them, so to speak, and sucli causes — unless compensated 
during the life of the person who produced them with adequate effects, 
will follow the reincarnated Ego, and reach it in its subsequent re- 
incarnation until a harmony between effects and causes is fully re- 
established. No ** personality " — a mere bundle of material atoms and 
of instinctual and mental characteristics— can of course continue, as 
such, in the world of pure Spirit. Only that which is immortal in its 
very nature and divine in its essence, namely, the Ego, can exist for ever. 
And as it is that Ego which chooses the personality it will inform, after 
each Devachan, and which receives through these personalities the effects 
of the Karmic causes produced, it is therefore the Ego, that self which is 
the ** moral kernel " referred to and embodied karma, *' w^hich alone 
survives death." 

Karnak (Eg.), The ruins of the ancient temples, and palaces which 
now stand on the emplacement of ancient Thebes. The most magnifi- 
cent representatives of the art and skill of the earliest Egyptians. A few 
lines quoted from Champollion, Denon and an English traveller, show 
most eloquently what these ruins are. Of Karnak Champollion writes : — 
** The ground covered by the mass of remaining buildings is square ; and 
each side measures i,8oo feet. One is astounded and overcome by the 
grandeur of the sublime remnants, the prodigality and magnificence of 
workmanship to be seen everywhere. No people of ancient or modern 
times has conceived the art of aichitecture upon a scale so sublime, so 
grandiose as it existed among the ancient Egyptians ; and the imagina- 
tion, which in Europe soars far above our porticos, arrests itself and falls 
powerless at the foot of the hundred and forty colunms of the hypostyle of 
Karnak ! In one of its halls, the Cathedral of Notre Dame might stand 
and not touch the ceiling, but be considered as a small ornament in the 
centre of the hall." 

Another writer exclaims : ** Courts, halls, gateways, pillars, obelisks, 
monolithic figures, sculptures, long rows of sphinxes, are found in such 
profusion at Karnak, that the sight is too much for modern compre- 



GI.OSSARY 175 

hension." Says Denon, the French traveller : " It is hardly possible to 
believe, after seeing it, in the reality of the existence of so many buildings 
collected together on a single point, in their dimensions, in the resolute 
perseverance which their construction required, and in the incalculable 
expenses of so much magnificence! It is necessary that the reader 
should fancy what is before him to be a dream, as he who views the 
objects themselves occasionally yields to the doubt whether he be per- 
fectly awake. . . . There are lakes and mountains ?t'/7///;/ ///^/rn^/z^/'j 
of the sanctuary. These two edifices are selected as examples from a list 
next to inexhaustible. The whole valley and delta of the Nile, from the 
cataracts to the sea, was covered with temples, palaces, tombs, pyramids, 
obelisks, and pillars. The execution of the sculptures is beyond praise. 
The mechanical perfection with which artists wrought in granite, serpen- 
tine, breccia, and basalt, is wonderful, according to all the experts . . . 
animals and plants look as good as natural, and artificial objects are 
beautifully sculptured ; battles by sea and land, and scenes of domestic 
life are to be found in all their bas -relief s/' 

Karnaim (Heb,), Horned, an attribute of Ashtoreth and Astarte ; 
those horns typify the male element, and convert the deity into an 
androgyne. Isis also is at times horned. Compare also the itiea of the 
Crescent Moon — symbol of Isis — as horned, [w. w. w.] 

Karneios (Gr.J. ** Apollo Kameicsy' is evidently an avatar of the 
Hindu ** Krishna Kama ". Both were Sun-gods ; both ** Kama " and 
Karneios meaning ** radiant ". (See the Secret Doctrine II., p. 44. note.) 

Karshipta (Mazd.). The holy bird of Heaven in the Mazdean Scrip- 
tures, of which Ahura Mazda says to Zaratushta that *'he recites the A vesta 
in the language of birds'' {Bund, \\x. et seg,). The bird is the symbol of 
" Soul " of Angel and Deva in every old religion. It is easy to see, there- 
fore, that this ** holy bird " means the divine Ego of man, or the ** Soul". 
The same as Karanda (q.v,), 

Karshvare (Zend), The ** seven earths " (our septenary chain) 
over which rule the Amesha Spenta, the Archangels or Dhyan Chohans 
of the Parsis. The seven earths, of which one only, namely Hvanirata 
— our earth — is known to mortals. The Earths (esoterically), or 
seven divisions (exoterically), are our own planetary chain as in 
Esoteric Buddhism and the Secret Doctrine. The doctrine is plainly stated 
in Fargard XIX., 39, of the Vendidad, 

Kartikeya (Sk,)^ or Kartika, The Indian God of War, son of Siva, 
born of his seed fallen into the Ganges. He is also the personification 
of the power of the Logos. The planet Mars. Kartika is a very occult 
personage, a nursling of the Pleiades, and a Kumara. (See Secret 
Doctrine,) 



ijh rmiosopHiCAi. 

Kanin&-Bh&wan& (Sk,). The meditation of pity and compassion in 
Yoga. 

Kasbeck. The mountain in the Caucasian range where Prometheus 
was bound. 

Kasi (Sk,), Another and more ancient name of the holy city of 
Benares. 

Kasina (Sk,). A mystic Yoga rite used to free the mind from all 
agitation and bring the Kamic element to a dead stand-still. 

K&siKhanda (Sk.), A long poem, which forms a part of the Skanda 
Purdna, and contains another version of the legend of Daksha's 
head. Having lost it in an affray, the gods replaced it with the head 
of a ram MekJia Shivas, whereas the other versions describe it as the 
head of a goat, a substitution which changes the allegory considerably. 

Kasyapa ^5^.;. A Vedic Sage; in the words of Atharva Veda^ ** The 
self-born who sprang from -Time". Besides being the father of the 
Adityas headed by Indra, Kasyapa is also the progenitor of serpents, 
reptiles, birds and other walking, flying and creeping beings. 

Katha (Sk.). One of the Upanishads commented upon by San- 
karacharya. 

Kaumara (Sk.). The '* Kumara Creation ", the virgin youths who 
sprang from the body of Brahma. 

Kauravya (Sk.). Tlie King of the Nagas (Serpents) in P4t4la, 
exoterically a hall. But esoterically it means something very different. 
There is a tribe of the Nagas in Upper India ; Nagal is the name in 
Mexico of the chief medicine men to this day, and was that of the chief 
adepts in the twilight of history; atid finally Fatal means the Antipodes 
and is a name of America. Hence the story that Arjuna travelled to 
Patala, and married Ulupiy the daughter of the King Kauravya, may be 
as historical as many others regarded first as fabled and then found out 
to be true. 

Kavanim (Heb.). Also written Cunim ; the name of certain mystic 
cakes offered to Ishtar, the Babylonian Venus. Jeremiah speaks of 
these Cunim offered to the ** Queen of Heaven ", vii. i8. Nowadays we 
do not offer the buns, but eat them at Easter, [w. w. w.J 

Kavyavahana (Sk.). The fire of the Pitris. 

Kohana (Sk.). A second incalculably short : the 90th part or fraction 
of a thought, the 4,500th part of a minute, during which from 90 to 100 
births and as many deaths occur on this earth. 

Kebar-Zivo (Gnostic). One of the chiv^f creators in tluf Codex Naburtrus. 

Keh^rpas (Sk.). Aerial form, 



GLOSSARY 177 

Keshara ^5^.^. *'Sky Walker", i.e., a Yogi who can travel in his 
astral form. 

Kether (Heb.). The Crown, the highest of the ten Sephiroth ; the 
first of the Supernal Triad. It corresponds to the Macroprosopus, vast 
countenance, or Arikh Anpin, which differentiates into Chokmah and 
Binah. [w. w. w.] 

Ketu (Sk.). The descending node in astronomy; the tail of the 
celestial dragon who attacks the Sun during the eclipses; also a comet or 
meteor. 

Key. A symbol of universal importance, the emblem of silence among 
the ancient nations. Represented on the threshold of the Adytum, a key 
had a double meaning : it reminded the candidates of the obligations of 
silence, and promised the unlocking of many a hitherto impenetrable 
mystery to the profane. In the ** CEdipus Coloneus " of Sophocles, the 
chorus speaks of ** the golden key which had come upon the tongue of the 
ministering Hierophant in the mysteries of Eleusis", (1051). ** The 
priestess of Ceres, according to Callimachus, bore a key as her ensign o^ 
office, and the key was, in the Mysteries of Isis, S}mbolical of the opening 
or disclosing of the heart and conscience before the forty-two assessors of 
the dead '' (R. M. Cyclopadia). 

Khado (Tib.). Evil female demons in popular folk-lore. In the 
Esoteric Philosophy occult and evil Forces of nature. Elementals 
known in Sanskrit as Dakini. 

Khaldi. The earliest inhabitants of Chaldea who were first the wor- 
shippers of the Moon god, Deus Lunus, a worship which was brought 
to them by the great stream of early Hindu emigration, and later a caste 
of regular Astrologers and Initiates. 

Kha (Sk.J. The same as ** Akasa ". 

Khamism. A name given by the Egyptologists to the ancient lan- 
guage of Egypt. Khami, also. 

Khanda K&la (Sk.). Finite or conditioned time in contradistinction 
to infinite time, or eternity — Kala. 

Khem f^g*)- The same as Horus. ** The God Khem will avenge 
his father Osiris " ; says a text in a papyrus. 

Khepra (Eg.). An Egyptian god presiding over rebirth and transmi- 
gration. He is represented with a scarabaeus instead of a head. 

Khi (Chin.). Lit., ** breath " ; meaning Buddhi. 

Khnoom (Eg.). The great Deep, or Primordial Space. 

Khoda (Pers.). The name for the Deity. 

KhonSf or Chonso. (Eg.) The Son of Maut and Amnion, the personifica- 

M 



178 THEOSOPHICAL 

tion of morning. He is the Theban Harpocrates, according to some. Like 
Horns he crushes under his foot a crocodile, emblem of night and dark- 
ness or Seb (Sebek) who is Typhon.. But in the inscriptions, he is 
addressed as ** the Healer of diseases and banisher of all evil ". He is 
also the '* god of the hunt ", and Sir Gardner Wilkinson would see in 
him the Egyptian Hercules, probably because the Romans had a god 
named Consus who presided over horse races and was therefore called 
*' the concealer of secrets". But the latter is a later variant on the 
Egyptian Khons, who is more probably an aspect of Horns, as he wears 
a hawk's head, carries the whip and crook of Osiris the tat and the crux 
ansata. 

Khoom (Eg,), or Knooph. The Soul of the world ; a variant oiKhnoom, 

Khubilkhan (MongJ, or Shabrong, In Tibet the names given to the 
supposed incarnations of Buddha. Elect Saints. 

Khunrath, Henry, A famous Kabalist, chemist and physician l>orn 
in 1502, initiated into Theosophy (Rosicrucian) in 1544. He left some 
excellent Kabalistic works, the best of which is the ** Amphitheatre of 
Eternal Wisdom '' (1598). 

Kimapurushas (Sk.), Monstrous Devas, half-men, half-horses. 

Kings of Edom. P2soterically, the early, tentative, malformed races of 
men. Some Kabalists interpret them as ** sparks ", worlds in formation 
disappearing as soon as formed. 

Kinnaras (Sk,), Lit,, " What men ? " Fabulous creatures of the 
same description as the Kim-purushas. One of the four classes of beings 
called ** Maharajas *'. 

Kioo-tche (Chin,), An astronomical work. 

Kiratarjuniya of Bharavi (Sk,), A Sanskrit epic, celebrating the strife 
and prowess of Arjuna with the god Siva disguised as a forester. 

Kiver-Shans (Chin,), The astral or ** Thought Body ". 

Kiyun (Heb.J, Or the god Kivan which was worshipped by the 
Israelites in the wilderness and was probably identical with Saturn and 
even with the god Siva. Indeed, as the Zendic H is S in India (thej^ 
** hapta " is ** sapta ", etc.), and as the letters K, H, and S, are inter- 
changeable, Siva may have easily become Kiva and Kivan, 

Klesha (Sk,), Love of life, but literally " pain and misery ". Cleav- 
ing to existence, and almost the same as Kama, 

Klikoosha (Russ.), One possessed by the Evil one. Lit,, a ** crier 
out ", a ** screamer*', as such unfortunates are periodically attacked with 
fits during which they crow like cocks, neigh, bray and prophesy. 

Klippoth (Heh,), Shells : used in the Kabbalah in several senses ; 



GLOSSARY 179 

(i) evil Spirits, demons; (2) the shells of dead human beings, not the 
physical body, but the remnant of the personality after the spirit has 
departed ; (3) the Elementaries of some authors, [w. w. w.] 

Kneph (Eg.), Also Cneph and Nef^ endowed with the same attributes 
as Khem. One of the gods of creative Force, for he is connected with 
the Mundane Egg. He is called by Porphyry ** the creator of the 
world " ; by Plutarch the ** unmade and eternal deity " ; by Eusebius he 
is identified with the Logos; and Jamblichus goes so far as almost to 
identify him with Brahma, since he says of him that ** this god is 
intellect itself, intellectually perceiving itself, and consecrating intellec- 
tions to itself; and /5 to he worshipped in silence ". One form of him, adds 
Mr. Bon wick *' was Av meaning flesh. He was criocephalus, with a 
solar disk on his head, and standing on the serpent Mehen. In his left 
hand was a viper, and a cross was in his right. He was actively 
engaged in the underworld upon a mission of creation." Deveria 
writes: *' His journey to the lower hemisphere appears to symbolise the 
evolutions of substances which are born to die and to be reborn ". 
Thousands of years before Kardec, Swedenborg, and Darwin appeared, 
the old Egyptians entertained their several philosophies. (Eg, Belief and 
Mod, Thought,) 

Koinobi (Gr,), A sect which lived in Egypt in the early part of the 
first Christian century ; usually confounded with the Therapeuta, They 
passed for magicians. 

Kokab (Chald,), The Kabalistic name associated with the planet 
Mercury ; also the Stellar light, [w. w. w.] 

Kol (Heh,), A voice, in Hebrew letters QUL. The Voice of the 
divine. (See ** Bath Kol " and ** Vach ".) [w. w. w.] 

Kols. One of the tribes in central India, much addicted to magic. 
They are considered to be great sorcerers. 

Konx-Om-Pax (Gr,), Mystic words used in the Eleusinian mysteries. 

It is believed that these words are the Greek imitation of ancient 

Egyptian words once used in the secret ceremonies of the Isiac cult. 

^♦Several modern authors give fanciful translations, but they are all 

only guesses at the truth, [w. w. w.] 

Koorgan (Russ,), An artificial mound, generally an old tomb. Tradi- 
tions of a supernatural or magical character are often attached to such 
mounds. 

Koran (Arab,), or Quran, The sacred Scripture of the Mussulmans, 
revealed to the Prophet Mohammed by Allah (god) himself. The 
revelation differs, however, from that given by Jehovah to Moses. The 
Christians abuse the Koran calling it a hallucination, and the work of 



l8o THEOSOFHICAL 

an Arabian impostor. Whereas, Mohammed preaches in his Scripture 
the vmity of Deity, and renders honour to the Christian prophet " Issa 
Ben Yussuf* (Jesus, son of Joseph). The Koran is a grand poem, 
replete with ethical teachings proclaiming loudly Faith, Hope and 
Charity. 

Kosmos (Gr,), The Universe, as distinguished from the world, 
which may mean our globe or earth. 

Kounboum (Tib.), The sacred Tree of Tibet, the ** tree of the 10,000 
images*' as Hue gives it. It grows in an enclosure on the Monastery 
lands of the Lamasery of the same name, and is \vell cared for. 
Tradition has it that it grew out of the hair of Tson-ka-pa, who was 
buried on that spot. This ** Lama " was the great Reformer of the 
Buddhism of Tibet, and is regarded as an incarnation of Amita Buddha. 
In the words of the Abbe Hue, who lived several months with another 
missionary named Gabet near this phenomenal tree : " F)ach of its 
leaves, in opening, bears either a letter or a religious sentence, written in 
sacred characters, and these letters are, of their kind, of such a perfection 
that the type-foundries of Didot contain nothing to excel them. Open 
the leaves, which vegetation is about to unroll, and you will there dis- 
cover, on the point of appearing, the letters or the distinct words which 
are the marvel of this unique tree ! Turn your attention from the leaves 
of the plant to the bark of its branches, and new characters will meet 
your eyes ! Do not allow your interest to flag ; raise the layers of this 
bark, and still other characters will show themselves below those 
whose beauty had surprised you. For, do not fancy that these super- 
posed layers repeat the same printing. No, quite the contrary ; for each 
lamina you lift presents to view its distinct type. How, then, can we 
suspect jugglery ? I have done my best in that direction to discover 
the slightest trace of human trick, and my baffled mind could not retain 
the slightest suspicion." Yet promptly the kind French Abb6 suspects 
— the Devil, 

Kratudwishas (Sk.), The enemies of the Sacrifices ; the Daityas, 
Danavas, Kinnaras, etc., etc., all represented as great ascetics and 
Yogis. This shows who are really meant. They v/ere the enemies of 
religious mummeries and ritualism. 

Kravy&d (Sk.), A flesh-eater ; a carnivorous man or animal. 

KrisS.8wa8 Sons of (Sk,), The weapons called Agneydstra, The 
magical living weapons endowed with intelligence, spoken of in the 
Ramayana and elsewhere. An occult allegory. 

Krishna (Sk,). The most celebrated avatar of Vishnu, the *' Saviour" 
of the Hindus and their most popular god. He is the eighth Avatar, the 



/ 



GLOSSARY l8l 

son of Devaki, and the nephew of Kansa, the Indian King Herod, who 
while seeking for him among the shepherds and cow-herds who concealed 
him, slew thousands of their newly-born babes. The story of Krishna's 
conception, birth, and childhood are the exact prototype of the New 
Testament story. The missionaries, of course, try to show that the 
Hindus stole the story of the Nativity from the early Christians who 
came to India. 

Krita-Yuga fSk.). The first of the four Yugas or Ages of the 
Brahnians; also called Satya-Yuga^ a period lasting 1,728,000 years. 

Krittika (Sk,), The Pleiades. The seven nurses of Karttikiya, the 
god of War. '^ t I 1 . -, ; • -'*^ ' - % ' - 

Kriyasakti (Gk,), The power of thought ; one of the seven forces of 
Nature. Creative potency of the Siddhis (powers) of the full Yogis. j 1 t j- 

KronOB (Gr,), Saturn. The God of Boundless Time and of the 
Cycles. ^^ ^^^ 

Kmra-loohana (Sk.). The ** evil-eyed"; used of Sani, the Hindu ; 

Saturn, the planet . 

Kshanti (Sk,). Patience, one of the ParamUas of perfection. 
Kshatriya (Sk.). The second of the four castes into which the ^ ^ ' - 
Hindus were originally divided. / ' ^ 

Kshetn^na or Kshctrajwswara (Sk.). Embodied spirit, the Conscious 
Ego in its highest manifestations ; the reincarnating Principle ; the 
** Lord " in us. ' ) • ^ 

KBhetram (Sk.). The ** Great Deep" of the Bible and Kabala. ^ ' ' ^ 
Chaos, Yoni ; Prakriti, Space. 

Kshira Samudra (Sk.). Ocean of milk, churned by the gods. 

Kuoh-ha-guf (Heb.), The astral body of a man. In Franz Lambert 
it is written ** Coach-ha-guf ". But the Hebrew word is Kuch, meaning 
vis, ** force ', motive origin of the earthy body. [w. jv. wJ / • 

Kuklos Anagkfis (Gr.). Lit.^ "The Unavoidable Cycle" or the 
** Circle of Necessity". Of the numerous catacombs in Egypt and i ji^^: 
Clialdea the most renowned were the subterranean crypts of Thebes and 
Memphis. The former began on the Western side oi the Nile extending 
toward the Libyan desert, and were known as the serpents' (Initiated 
Adepts) catacombs. It was there that the Sacred Mysteries of the 
Kuklos Anagkes were performed, and the candidates were acquainted with 
the inexorable laws traced for every disembodied soul from the beginning 
of time. These laws were that every reincarnating Entity, casting away 
its body should pass from this life on earth unto another life on a more 
subjective plane, a state of bliss, unless the sins of the personality 



S' '5/^f 



t, 



1 82 THKOSOPHICAL 

brought on a complete separation of the higher from the lower 
"principles"; that the ** circle of necessity" or the unavoidable cycle 
should last a given period (from one thousand to even three thousand 
years in a few cases), and that when closed the Entity should return to its 
mummy ^ i,e„ to a new incarnation. The Egyptian and Chaldean teach- 
ings were those of the '* Secret Doctrine *' of the Theosophists. The 
Mexicans had the same. Their demi-god, Votan, is made to describe in 
Popol Vuh (see de Bourbourg's work) the ahugero de coluhra which is 
identical with the ** Serpent's Catacombs ", or passage, adding that it 
ran underground and " terminated at the root of heaven ", into which 
serpenfs hole, Votan was admitted because he was himself ** a son of the 
Serpents", or a Dragon of Wisdom^ i,c.^ an Initiate. 'Jlie world over, 
the priest-adepts called themselves ** Sons of the Dragon " and ** Sons 
of the Serpent-god ". 

Kukkuta Padagiri (Sk,)y called also Gumpadagiri, the ** teacher's 
mountain ". It is situated about seven miles from Gaya, and is famous 
owing to a persistent report that Arhat Mahakasyapa even to this day 
dwells in its caves. 

Kum&ra (Sk,), A virgin boy, or young celibate. The first Kumaras 
are the seven sons of Brahma, born out of the limbs of the god, in the 
so-called ninth creation. It is stated that the name was given to them 
owing to their formal refusal to ** procreate their species", and so they 
** remained Yogis ", as the legend says. 

Kum&rabudhi (Sk,), An epithet given to the human ** Ego ". 

Kum&ra guha (Sk,). Lit,, ** the mysterious virgin youth ". A title 
given to Karttikeya owing to his strange origin. 

Kumbhaka (Sk,), Retention of breath, according to the regulations 
of the Hatha Yoga system. 

Kumbhakarna (Sk,), The brother of King Havana of Lanka, the 
ravisher of Rama's wife, Sita. As shown in the Ramayana, Kumbhakarna 
under a curse of Brahma slept for six months, and then remained awake 
one day to fall asleep again, and so on, for many hundreds of years. 
He was awakened to take part in the war between Rama and Havana, 
captured Hanuman, but was finally killed himself. 

Kundalini Sakti (Sk,), The power of life; one of the Forces of 
Nature; that power that generates a certain light in those who sit for 
spiritual and clairvoyant development. It is a power known only to 
those who practise concentration and Yoga. 

Kunti (Sk,), The wife of Pandu and the mother of the Pandavas, the 
heroes and the foes of their cousins the Kauravas, in the Bhagavad-gita, 
It is an allegory of the Spirit-Soul or Buddhi. Some think that 



GLOSSARY 183 

Draupadi, the wife in common of the five brothers, the Pandavas,'^is 
meant to represent Buddhi : but this is not so, for Draupadi stands for 
the terrestrial life of the Personality. As such, we see it made little of, 
allowed to be insulted and even taken into slavery by Yudhishthira, the 
elder of the Pandavas and her chief lord, who represents the Higher Ego 
with all its qualifications. 

Kurios (Gr,), The Lord, the Master. 

Kurus (Sk.) or Kauravas, The foes of the Pandavas in the Bhagavad 
Gita, oh the plain of Kurukshetra. This plain is but a few miles from 
Delhi. 

Kusa (Sk,), A sacred grass used by the ascetics of India, called the 
grass of lucky augury. It is very occult. 

Kusadwipa (Sk,), One of the seven islands named Saptiuhvipa in the 
Pnrdnas. (See Secret Doctrine II., p. 404, Note.) 

Kusala {Sk,), Merit, one of the two chief constituents of Karina. 

Kusinara (Sk,J, The city near which Buddha died. It is near 
Delhi, though some Orientalists would locate it in Assam. 

KuYOra (Sk,), God of the Hades, and of wealth like Pluto. The 
king of the evil demons in the Hindu Pantheon. 

Kwan-shai-yin (Chin,), The male logos of the Northern Buddhists 
and those of China ; the ** manifested god ". 

Kwan-yin (Chin,), The female logos, the ** Mother of Mercy ". 

Kwan-yin-tien (Chin,), The heaven where Kwan-yin and the other 
logoi dwell. 



184 THEOSOPHICAL 



L. 

L. — The twelfth letter of the English Alphabet, and also of the 
Hebrew, where Lamed signifies an Ox -goad, the sign of a form of the 

god Mars, the generative deity. The letter is an equivalent of number 30. 

The Hebrew divine name corresponding to L, is Limmud, or Doctus, 

Labarum (Lat.). The standard borne before the old Roman 
Emperors, having an eagle upon it as an emblem of sovereignty. It was 
a long lance with a cross staff at right angles. Constantine replaced the 
eagle by the christian monogram with the motto €v toitw viKa which was 
later interpreted into In Jioc signo vinces. As to the monogram, it was a 
combination of the letter X, Chi, and P, Rho, the initial syllable of 
Christos. But the Labarum had been an emblem of Etruria ages before 
Constantine and the Christian era. It was the sign also of Osiris and of 
Horus who is often represented with the long Latin cross, while the 
Greek pectoral cross is purely Egyptian. In his ** Decline and Fall " 
Gibbon has exposed the Constantine imposture. The emperor, if he ever 
had a vision at all, must have seen the Olympian Jupiter, in whose faith 
he died. 

Labro. A Roman saint, solemnly beatified a few years ago. His 
great holiness consisted in sitting at one of the gates of Rome night and 
day for forty years, and remaining unwashed through the whole of that 
time. He was eaten by vermin to his bones. 

Labyrinth (Gr,). Egypt had the " celestial labyrinth " whereinto the 
souls of the departed plunged, and also its type on earth, the famous 
Labyrinth, a subterranean series of halls and passages with the most 
extraordinary windings. Herodotus describes it as consisting of 3,000 
chambers, half below and half above ground. Even in his day strangers 
were not allowed into the subterranean portions of it as they contained 
the sepulchres of the kings who built it and other mysteries. The 
** Father of History" found the Labyrinth already almost in ruins, yet 
regarded it even in its state of dilapidation as far more marvellous than 
the pyramids. 

Lactantius. A Church Father, who declared the heliocentric system a 
heretical doctrine, and that of the antipodes as a ** fallacy invented by 
the devil '*. 

Ladakh. The upper valley of the Indus, inhabited by Tibetans, but 
belonging to the Rajah of Cashmere. 



GLOSSARY 185 

Ladder. There are many ** ladders" in the mystic philosophies and 
schemes, all of which were, and some still are, used in the respective 
mysteries of various nations. The Brahmanical Ladder symbolises the 
Seven Worlds or Sapta Loka ; the Kahalistical Ladder, the seven lower 
Sephiroth ; Jacob's Ladder is spoken of in the Bible ; the Mithraic Ladder 
is also the ** Mysterious Ladder ". Then there are the Rosicrucian, the 
Scandinavian, the Borsippa Ladders, etc., etc., and finally the Theological 
Ladder which, according to Brother Kenneth Mackenzie, consists of the 
four cardinal and three theological virtues. 

Lady of the Sycamore. A title of the Egyptian goddess Neith, who is 
often represented as appearing in a tree and handing therefrom the fruit 
of the Tree of Life, as also the Water of Life, to her worshippers. 

Laena (LatJ. A robe worn by the Roman Augurs with which they 
covered their heads while sitting in contemplation on the flight of birds. 

Lahgash (Kab.). Secret speech ; esoteric incantation ; almost 
identical with the mystical meaning of Vach. 

Lajja (Sk,). " Modesty " ; a demi-goddess, daughter of Daksha. 

Lakh (Sk.J, 100,000 of units, either in specie or anything else. 

Lakshana fSk.), The thirty-two bodily signs of a Buddha, marks by 
which he is recognised. 

Lakshmi (Sk.) ** Prosperity ", fortune ; the Indian Venus, born of 
the churning of the ocean by the gods ; goddess of beauty and wife of 
Vishnu. 

Lalita Yistara (Sk,). A celebrated biography of Sakya Muni, the 
Lord Buddha, by Dharmarakcha, a.d. 308. 

Lama (Tib,), Written ** Clama ". The title, if correctly applied, 
belongs only to the priests of superior grades, those who can hold office 
as gurus in the monasteries. Unfortunately every common member of 
the gedun (clergy) calls himself or allows himself to be called ** Lama ". 
A real Lama is an ordained and thrice ordained Gelong. Since the reform 
produced by Tsong-ka-pa, many abuses have again crept into the 
theocracy of the land. There are *' Lama -astrologers ", the Chakhan^ or 
common Tsikhan (from tsigan, ** gypsy "), and Lama-soothsayers, even 
such as are allowed to marry and do not belong to the clergy at all. 
They are very scarce, however, in Eastern Tibet, belonging principally 
to Western Tibet and to sects which have nought to do with the Gelukpas 
(yellow caps). Unfortunately, Orientalists knowing next to nothing of 
the true state of affairs in Tibet, confuse the Choichong, of the 
Gurmakhayas Lamasery (Lhassa) — the Initiated Esotericists, with the 
Charlatans and Dugpas (sorcerers) of the Bhon sects. No wonder if — as 
Schagintweit says in his Buddhism in Tibet — ** though the images of 



r86 THEOSOPHICAL 

King Choichong (the * god of astrology') are met with in most 
monasteries of Western Tibet and the Himalayas, my brothers never 
saw a Lama Choichong". This is but natural. Neither the Choichong, 
nor the Kiihilkhan f^^/.r J overrun the country. As to the *' God " or ** King 
Choichong", he is no more a ** god of astrology'' than any other 
** Planetary" Dhyan Chohan. 

Lamrin (Tib.). A sacred volume of precepts and rules, written by 
Tson-kha-pa, ** for the advancement of knowledge ". 

Land of the Bternal Sun. Tradition places it beyond the Arctic 
regions at the North Pole. It is ** the land of the gods where the sun 
never sets '*. 

Lang-Shu (Chin,). The title of the translation of Nagarjuna's work, 
the Ekasloka-Shastra. 

Lanka (Sk, l. The ancient name of the island now called C'eylon. It 
IS also the name of a mountain in the South East of Ceylon, where, as 
tradition says, was a town peopled with demons named Lankapuri. It 
is described in the epic of the Ramayana as of gigantic extent and 
magnihcence, *' with seven broad moats and seven stupendous walls of 
stone and metal ". Its foundation is attributed to Visva-Karma, who 
built it for Kuvera, the king of the demons, from whom it was taken by 
Ravana, the ravisher of Sita. The Bhugavat Purdna shows Lanka or 
Ceylon as primarily the summit of Mount Meru, which was broken off 
by Vayu, god of the wind, and hurled into the ocean. It has since 
become the seat of the Southern Buddhist Church, the Siamese Sect 
(lieaded at present by the High Priest Sumangala), the representation of 
the purest exoteric Buddhism on this side of the Himalayas. 

Lanoo (Sk.). A discii)le, the same as ** chela ". 

Lao-tze (Chin.). A great sage, saint and philosopher who preceded 
Confucius. 

Lapis philosophoFum (Lat.). The " Philosopher's stone " ; a mystic 
term in alchemy, having (juite a different meaning from that usually 
attributed to it. 

Lararium (Lat.j. An apartment in the house of ancient Romans 
where the Lares or household gods were preserved, with other family 
relics. 

Lares (Lat.). These were of three kinds : Lares familiares, the 
guardians and invisible presidents of the family circle ; Lares parviy small 
idols used for divinations and augury : and Lares prastiteSy which w^ere 
supposed to maintain order among the others. The Lares are the maftes 
or ghosts of disembodied people. Apuleius says that the tumulary in- 
scription, To the gods manes wJw lived, meant that the Soul had been trans- 



GLOSSARY T87 

formed in a Lemnrc : and adds that tlioiigh '* the human Soul is a demon 
that our languages may name genius ", and ** is an immortal god though in 
a certain sense she is born at the same time as the man in whom she is, yet we 
may say that she dies in the same ztuiy that she is born ". Which means in 
plainer language that Lares and Lemures are simply the shells cast oft* by 
the Ego, the high spiritual and immortal Soul, whose shell, and also its 
astral reflection, the animal Soul, die, whereas the higher Soul prevails 
throughout eternity. 

LarYa (Lat,), The animal Soul. Larva are the shadows of men that 
have lived and died. 

Law of Retribution. (See ** Karma ".) 

Laya or Lay am (Sk.J, From the root Li *' to dissolve, to disin- 
tegrate" a point of equilibrium (zero-point) in physics and chemistry. 
In occultism, that point where substance becomes homogeneous and is 
unable to act or differentiate. 

Lebanon (Heb.J. A range of mountains in Syria, with a few remnants 
of the gigantic cedar trees, a forest of which once crowned its sumi\iit. 
Tradition says that it is here, that the timber for King Solomon's 
temple was obtained. (See ** Druzes ".) v 

Lemuria. A modern term first used by some naturalists, and now 
adopted by Theosophists, to indicate a continent that, according to the 
Secret Doctrine of the East, preceded Atlantis. Its Eastern name would 
not reveal much to European ears. 

Leon, Moses de. The name of a Jewish Rabbi in the Xlilth century, 
accused of having composed the Zohar which he gave out as the true 
work of Simeon Ben Jachai. His full name is given in Myer's Qabbalah as 
Rabbi Moses ben-Shem-Tob de Leon, of Spain, the same author proving 
very cleverly that de Leon was not the author of the Zohar, Few will say he 
was, but every one must suspect Moses de Leon of perverting consider- 
ably the original Book of Splendour (Zohar). This sin, however, may be 
shared by him with the Media:jval ** Christian Kabalists " and by Knorr 
von Rosenroth especially. Surely, neither Rabbi Simeon, condemned 
to death by Titus, nor his son. Rabbi Eliezer, nor his Secretary Rabbi Abba, 
can be charged with introducing into the Zohar purely Christian dogmas 
and doctrines invented by the Church Fathers several centuries after the 
death of the former Rabbis. This would be stretching alleged divine 
prophecy a little too far. 

L^Yi, Eliphas. The real name of this learned Kabalist was Abbe 
Alphonse Louis Constant. Eliphas Levi Zahed was the author of several 
works on philosophical magic. Member of the Fratres Lucis (Brothers of 
Light), he was also once upon a time a priest, an abbe of the Roman 



1 88 thkosophicaL 

I 

Catholic Ciuircii, wiiicii promptly proceeded to unfrock him, when he 
acquired fame as a Kabalist. He died some twenty years ago, leaving 
five famous v/orks—Dof^we et Rittid dc la Haute Magie (1856) ; Histoire de la 
Magie (i860); La Clef des grands Mysteres (1861); Legendes et Symholes 
(1862); and La Science des Esprits (1865); besides some other works of 
minor importance. His style is extremely light and fascinating ; but 
with a rather too strong characteristic of mockery and paradox in it to 
be the ideal of a serious Kabalist. 

LeYiathan. In biblical esotericism, Deity in its double manifestation 
of good and evil. The meaning may be found in the Zohar (H. 346.) 
** Rabbi Shimeon said : The work of the beginning (of * creation ') the 
companions (candidates) study and understand it ; but the little ones (the 
full or perfect Initiates) are those who understand the allusion to the 
work of the beginning by the Mystery of the Serpent of the Great Sea (to wit) 
Thanneen, Leviathan.'' (See also Qabhalah, by I. Myer.) 

LeY&nah (Heb.J, The moon, as a planet and an astrological influence. 

Lha (Tib,). Spirits of the highest spheres, whence the name of 
Lhassa, the residence of the Dalai-Lama. The title of Lha is often 
given in Tibet to some Narjols (Saints and Yogi adepts) who have 
attained great occult powers. 

Lhagpa (Tib.). Mercury, the planet. 

Lhakan^ (Tib.). A temple ; a crypt, especially a subterranean temple 
for mystic ceremonies. 

Lhamayin (Tib.). Elemental sprites of the lower terrestrial plane. 
Popular fancy makes of them demons and devils. 

Lif (Scand.). Lif and Lifthresir, the only two human beings who were 
allowed to be present at the *' Renewal of the World ". Being ** pure 
and innocent and free from sinful desires, they are permitted to enter 
the world where peace now reigns ". The Edda shows them hidden in 
Hoddmimir's forest dreaming the dreams of childhood while the last 
conflict was taking place. These two creatures, and the allegory in 
which they take part, are allusions to the few nations of the Fourth 
Root Race, who, surviving the great submersion of their continent and 
the majority of their Race, passed into the Fifth and continued their 
ethnical evolution in our present Human Race. 

Light, Brothers of. This is what the great authority on secret societies. 
Brother Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie IX., says of this Brotherhood. ** A 
mystic order, F rat res Liicis, established in Florence in 1498. Among 
the members of this order were Pasqualis, Cagliostro, Swedenborg, 
St. Martin, Eliphaz Levi, and many other eminent mystics. Its mem- 
bers were very much persecuted by the Inquisition. It is a small but 
compact body, the members being spread all over the world." 



GLOSSARY 189 

Lila (Sk,), sport, literally ; or pastime. In the orthodox Hindu 
Scriptures it is explained that ** the acts of the divinity are lila'\ or sport. 

Lilith (Heh,). By Jewish tradition a demon who was the first wife of 

Adam, before Eve was created : she is supposed to have a fatal influence 

on mothers and newly-born infants. Lil is night, and Lilith is also the 

owl : and in mediaeval works is a synonym of Lamia or female demon, 

[w.w.w.] 

Lil-in (Heb,), The children of Lilith, and their descendants. 
" Lilith is the Mother of the Shedim and the Mnquishim (the ensnarers) **. 
Every class of the Lil-ins, therefore, are devils in the demonolopjy of the 
Jews. (See Zohar ii. 268^.) 

Limbus Major (Lat.J, A term used by Paracelsus to denote primor- 
dial (alchemical) matter ; ** Adam's earth ". 

Lin^a or Lingam (Sk.), A sign or a symbol of abstract creation. 
Force becomes the organ of procreation only on this earth. In India 
there are 12 great Lingams of Siva, some of which are on mountains and 
rocks, and also in temples. Such is the Kedaresa in the Himalaya, a 
huge and shapeless mass of rock. In its origin the Lingam had never 
the gross meaning connected with the phallus, an idea which is altogether 
of a later date. The symbol in India has the same meaning which it 
had in Egypt, which is simply that the creative or procreative Force is 
divine. It also denotes who was the dual Creator — male and female, 
Siva and his Sakti. The gross and immodest idea connected with the 
phallus is not Indian but Greek and pre-eminently Jewish. The Biblical 
Bethels were real priapic stones, the ** Beth-cl " (phallus) wherein God 
dwells. The same symbol was concealed within the ark of the Covenant, 
the ** Holy of Holies". Therefore the ** Lingam " even as a phallus is 
not ** a symbol of Siva " only, but that of every ** Creator " or creative 
god in every nation, including the Israelites and their ** God of Abraham 
and Jacob ". 

Linga Pur&na (Sk,J, A scripture of the Saivas or worshippers of 
Siva. Therein Maheswara, " the great Lord ", concealed in the Agni 
Linga explains the ethics of life — duty, virtue, self-sacrifice and finally 
liberation by and through ascetic life at the end of the Agni Kalpa (the 
Seventh Round). As Professor Wilson justly observed ** the Spirit of 
the worship (phallic) is as little influenced by the character of the type as 
can well be imigined. There is nothing like the phallic orgies of antiquity ; it 
is all mystical and spiritual." 

Linga Sharfra (Sk.). The " body ", i.e., the aerial symbol of the body. 
This term designates the dOppclganger or the ** astral body " of man or 
animal. It is the eidolon of the Greeks, the vital and prototypal body ; the 



igo THF.OSOPHICAL 

reflection of the men of flesh. It is born before and dies or fades out, 
with the disappearance of the last atom of the body. 

Lipi (Sk. ). To write. See ** Lipikas " in Vol. I. of the Secret Doctrine. 

Lipikas fSk,), The celestial recorders, the ** Scribes", those who 
record every word and deed, said or done by man while on this earth. ' 
As Occultism teaches, they are the agents of Karma — the * retributiyie 
Law. 

Lobha (Sk.). Covetousness : cupidity, a son sprung from Brahmu, 
in an evil hour. 

LoduF (Scand.j. The second personage in the trinity of gods in the 
Eddas of the Norsemen ; and the father of the twelve great gods. It is 
Lodur who endows the first man — made of the ash-tree (Ask), with blood 
and colour. 

Logi (Scand,). Lit,, ** flame ". This giant with his sons and 
kindred, made themselves finally known as the authors of every cataclysm 
and conflagration in heaven or on earth, by letting mortals perceive them 
n the midst of flames. These giant-fiends were all enemies of man 
trying to destroy his work wherever they found it. A symbol of the 
cosmic elements. 

Logia (Gr.j, The secret discourses and teachings of Jesus contained 
in the Evangel of Matthew — in the original Hebrew, not the spurious 
Greek text we have — and preserved by the Ebionites and the Nazarenes 
in the library collected by Pamphilus, at Ca}sarea. This ** Evangel " 
called by many writers ** the genuine Gospel of Matthew ", was used 
according to (St.) Jerome, by the Nazarenes and Ebionites of Beroea, 
Syria, in his own day (4th century). Like the Aporrheta or secret dis- 
courses, of the Mysteries, these Logia could only be understood with a 
key. Sent by the Bishops Chromatins and Heliodorus, Jerome, after 
having obtained permission, translated them, but found it ** a difficult 
task " (truly so !) to reconcile the text of the ** genuine " with that of the 
spurious Greek gospel he was acquainted with. (See his Unveiled IL, 
180 et seq,) 

hogOB(Gr.j, The vianifested deity with every nation and people ; the 
outward expression, or the effect of the cause which is ever concealed. 
Thus, speech is the Logos of thought ; hence it is aptly translated by 
the ** Verbum " and ** Word " in its metaphysical sense. 

Lohitanga (Sk,), The planet. Mars. 

Loka (Sk.). A region or circumscribed place. In metaphysics, a 
world or sphere or plane. The Puranas in India speak incessantly of 
seven and fourteen Lokas, above, and below our earth ; of heavens and 
hells* 



GLOSSARY IQI 

Loka Chakshub (Sk,), The '* Kye of the Worhl " ; a title of the Sun, 
Suvya, 

Loka P&las (Sk.), The supporters, rulers and guardians of the world. 
The deities (planetary gods) which preside over the eight cardinal points, 
among which are the Tchatur (Four) Maharajahs. 

lAO^AfScaud,). The Scandinavian Evil Spirit exoterically. In esoteric 
philosophy ** an opposing power " only because differentiating from 
primordial harmony. In the Edda, he is the father of the terrible 
Fenris Wolf, and of the Midgard Snake. By blood he is the brother of 
Odin, the good and valiant god ; but in nature he is his opposite. Lt)ki- 
Odin is simply two in one. As Odin is, in one sense, vital heat, so is 
Loki the symbol of the passions produced by the intensity of the former. 

Loreley. The German copy of the Scandinavian '* Lake Maiden ". 
Undine is one of the names given to these maidens, who are known in 
exoUric Magic and Occultism as the Water- Flementals. 

Lost Word (Masonic). It ought to stand as *' lost words " and lost 
secrets, in general, for that which is termed the lost ** Word ' is no word 
at all, as in the case of the Ineffable Name (q.v.) The Royal Arch Degree 
in Masonr)', has been *' in search of it " since it was founded. But the 
** dead "—^specially those mtirdeyed — do not speak ; and were even '* the 
Widow's Son " to come back to life *' materialized ", he could hardly 
reveal that w^hich never existed in the form in which it is now taught. 
The Shemhamphorash (the separated name, through the power of which 
according to his detractors, Jeshu Ben Pandira is said to have wrought 
his miracles, afcer stealing it from the Temple) — whether derived from 
the ** self existent substance" of Tetragrammaton, or not, can never be 
a substitute, for the lost logos of divine magic. 

Lotus (Gr.J. A most occult plant, sacred in Egypt, India and else- 
where ; called ** the child of the Universe bearing the likeness of its mother 
in its bosom ". There was a time ** when the world was a golden lotus " 
(padma) says the allegory. A great variety of these plants, from the 
majestic Indian lotus, down to the marsh-lotus (bird's foot trefoil) and the 
Grecian ** Dioscoridis ", is eaten at Crete and other islands. It is a 
species of nymphaja, first introduced from India to Egypt to which it 
was not indigenous. See the text of Archaic Symbolism in the Appendix 
VIII. ** The Lotus, as a Universal Symbol".* 

Lotus, Lord of the, A title applied to the various creative gods, as 
also to the Lords of the Universe of which this plant is the symbol. (See 
"Lotus".) 

LoYe Feasts, Agapae (Gr.j. These bantjuets of charity held by the 
earliest Christians were founded at Rome by Clemens, in the reign of 



102 THKOSOPHICAL 

Domitian. Professor A. Kestner's The A gapa or the Secret World Society 
{Wilthund) of the Primitive Christians'' (published 1819 at Jena) speaks 
of these Love Feasts as ** having a hierarchical constitution, and 
a groundwork of Masonic symboHsm and Mysteries " ; and shows a direct 
connection between the old Agapae and the Table Lodges or Banquets 
of the Freemasons. Having, however, exiled from their suppers the 
** holy kiss " and women, the banquets of the latter are rather " drinking ** 
than " love *' feasts. The early Agapae were certainly the same as the 
Phallica, which ** were once as pure as the Love Feasts of early 
Christians ** as Mr. Bonwick very justly remarks, ** though like them 
rapidly degenerating into licentiousness ". (Eg, Bel. and Mod, Thought^ 
p. 260.) 

Lower Face or Lower Countenance (Kab.j, A term applied to Micro- 
prosopus, as that of ** Higher Face " is to Macroprosopus. The two are 
identical with Long Face and Short Face, 

Lubara (Chald,). The god of Pestilence and Disease. 

Lucifer (Lat,), The planet Venus, as the bright ** Morning Star **. 
Before Milton, Lucifer had never been a name of the Devil. Quite the 
reverse, since the Christian Saviour is made to say of himself in Revelations 
(xvi. 22.) ** I am . . . the bright morning star " or Lucifer. One 
of the early Popes of Rome bore that name ; and there was even a 
Christian sect in the fourth century which was called the Luciferians. 

LuUy, Raymond, An alchemist, adept and philosopher, born in the 
13th century, on the island of Majorca. It is claimed for him that, in a 
moment of need, he made for King Edward HI. of England several 
millions of gold ** rose nobles ", and thus helped him to carry on war 
victoriously. He founded several colleges for the study of Oriental 
languages, and Cardinal Ximenes was one of his patrons and held him in 
great esteem, as also Pope John XXI. He died in 1314, at a good old 
age. Literature has preserved many wild stories about Raymond 
Lully, which would form a most extraordinary romance. He was the 
elder son of the Seneshal of Majorca and inherited great wealth from his 
father. 

Lunar Gods. Called in India the Fathers, *' Pitris " or the lunar 
ancestors. They are subdivided, like the rest, into seven classes or 
Hierarchies. In Egypt although the moon received less worship than in 
Chaldea or India, still Isis stands as the representative of Luna-Lunus, 
** the celestial Hermaphrodite ". Strange enough while the modern 
connect the moon only with lunacy and generation, tlie ancient nations, 
who knew better, have, individually and collectively, connected their 
** wisdom gods" with it. Thus in Egypt the lunar gods are Thoth- 



GLOSSARY 193 

Hermes and Chons ; in India it is Badha, the Son of Soma, the moon ; 
in Chaldea Nebo is the hmar god of Secret Wisdom, etc., etc. The wife 
of Thoth, Stjix, the lunar goddess, holds a pole with five rays or the 
five-pointed star, symbol of man, the Microcosm, in distinction from the 
Septenary Macrocosm. As in all theogonies a goddess precedes a god, 
on the principle most likely that the chick can hardly precede its egg^ in 
Chaldea the moon was held as older and more venerable than the Sun, 
because, as they said, darkness precedes light at every periodical rebirth 
(or ** creation ") of the universe. Osiris although connected with the 
Sun and a Solar god is, nevertheless, born on Mount Sinaiy because Sin 
is the Chaldeo- Assyrian word for the moon ; so was Dio-Nysos, god of 
Nyssi or Nisi, which latter appelation was that of Sinai in Egypt, where 
it was called Mount Nissa. The crescent is not — as proven by many 
writers — an ensign of the Turks, but was adopted by Christians for their 
symbol before the Mahommedans. For ages the crescent was the emblem 
of the Chaldean Astarte, the Egyptian Isis, and the Greek Diana, all of 
them Queens of Heaven, and finally became the emblem of Mary the 
Virgin. ** The Greek Christian Empire of Constantinople held it as 
their palladium. Upon the conquest by the Turks, the Sultan adopted 
it . . . and since that, the crescent has been made to oppose the idea 
of the cross ". (Eg. Belief,) 

Lupercalia (Lat.). Magnificent popular festivals celebrated in 
ancient Rome on February 15th, in honour of the God Pan, during 
which the Luperci, the most ancient and respectable among the sacerdo- 
tal functionaries, sacrificed two goats and a dog, and two of the most 
illustrious youths were compelled to run about the city naked (except the 
loins) whipping all those whom they met. Pope Gelasius abolished the 
Lupercalia in 496, but substituted for them on the same day the pro- 
cession of lighted candles. 

Luxor (Occ), A compound word from lux (light) and aur (fire), 
thus meaning the ** Light of (divine) Fire.' 

Luxor, Brotherhood of. A certain Brotherhood of mystics. Its 
name had far better never have been divulged, as it led a great number 
of well-meaning people into being deceived, and relieved of their money 
by a certain bogus Mystic Society of speculators, born in Europe, only 
to be exposed and fly to America. The name is derived from the ancient 
Lookshur in Beloochistan, lying between Bela and Kedjee. The order is 
very ancient and the most secret of all. It is useless to repeat that its 
members disclaim all connection with the ** H.B. of L. ", and the ttitti 
quanti of commercial mystics, whether from Glasgow or Boston. 

Lycanthropy (Or.), Physiologically, a disease or mania, during 
which a person imagines he is a wolf, and acts as such. Occultly, it 

N 



194 THEOSOFHICAL 

means the Scinic as ** were-wolf ", the psychological faculty of certain 
sorcerers to appear as wolves. Voltaire states that in the district of 
Jura, in two years between 1598 and 1600, over 600 lycanthropes 
were put to death by a too Christian judge. This does not mean that 
Shepherds accused of sorcery, and seen as wolvesy had indeed the power of 
changing; themselves physically into such ; but simply that they had the 
hypnotizing power of making people (or those they regarded as enemies), 
believe they saw a wolf when, there was none in fact. The exercise of 
such power is truly sorcery. ** Demoniacal " possession is true at bottom, 
minus the devils of Christian theology. Hut this is no place for a long 
disquisition upon occult mysteries and magic powers. 



I 



/ 



GLOSSARY 195 



M. 

JVl , — The thirteenth letter of the Hebrew and of the EngHsh alphabets, 
and the twenty-fourth of the Arabic. As a Roman numeral, this letter 
stands for 1000, and with a dash on it (M) signifies one million. In the 
Hebrew alphabet Mem symbolized water, and as a numeral is equivalent 
to 40. The Sanskrit ma is equivalent to number 5, and is also con- 
nected with water through the sign of the Zodiac, called Makara (q,v.). 
Moreover, in ihe Hebrew and Latin numerals the m stands ** as the 
definite numeral for an indeterminate number " (Mackenzie's Masow. Cyc), 
and ** the Hebrew sacred name of God applied to this letter is NUhorach^ 
Bencdictus.'' With the Esotericists the M is the symbol of the Higher 
Ego — Manas, Mind. 
M& (Sk,). Lit,, ** five *'. A name of Lakshmi. 

Ma, Mitt (Eg,), The goddess of the lower world, another form of I sis, 
as she is nature, the eternal mother. She was the sovereign and Ruler 
of the North wind, the precursor of the overflow of the Nile, and thus 
called ** the opener of the nostrils of the living ". She is represented 
offering the ankh, or cross, emblem of physical life to her worshippers, and 
is called the ** Lady of Heaven ". 

MflUiha^istia. Magic, as once taught in Persia and Chaldea, 
and raised in its occult practices into a religio-magianism. Plato, 
speaking of Machagistia, or Magianism, remarks that it is the purest 
form of the worship of things divine, 

MflU^FOCOSm (Gr,). The " Great Universe " literally, or Kosmos. 

H£M)F0pr080pU8 (Gr,), A Kabalistic term, made of a compound 
Greek word : meaning the Vast or Great Countenance (See ** Kabalistic 
Faces ") ; a title of Kether, the Crown, the highest Sephira. It is the 
name of the Universe, called Arikh-Anpin, the totality of that of which 
Microprosopus or Zauir-Anpin, ** the lesser countenance**, is the part 
and antithesis. In its highest or abstract metaphysical sense, 
Microprosopus is Adam Kadmon, the vehicle of Ain-Suph, and the crowii 
of the Sephirothal Tree, though since Sephira and Adam Kadmon are in 
fact one under two aspects, it comes to the same thing. Interpretations 
are many, and they differ. 

Hadhasadana or Madhu-Sildana (Sk,). ** Slayer of Madhu*' (a demon), 
a title of Krishna from his killing the latt.T, 



HjG THKOSOrmCAL 

Madhava (^5^J. (i) A name of Vishnu or Krishna; (2) The month 
of April ; (3) A title of Lakshnii when written Madhavi, 

Hadhya (Sk,). Ten thousand billions. 

Hadhyama (Sk,), Used of soniethinf( beginningless and endless. 
Thus Vach (Sound, the female Logos, or the female counterpart of 
Brahma), is said to exist in several states, one of w-hich is that of 
Mtidhyama, which is equivalent to saying that Vach is eternal in one 
sense: ** the Word (Vach) was with God, and in God", for the two 
are one. 

Hadhyamikas (Sk.J. A sect mentioned in the Vishnu Purana, Agree- 
abl)' to the Orientalists, a '* Duddhist " sect, which is an anachronism. 
It was probably at first a sect of Hindu atheists. A later school of that 
name, teaching a system of sophistic nihilism, that reduces every pro- 
position into a thesis and its antithesis, and then denies both, has l>een 
started in Tibet and China. It adopts a few principles of Nagarjuna, who 
was one of the founders of the esoteric Mahayana systems, not their 
exoteric travesties. Thi; allegory that regarded Nagarjuna's ** Para- 
mirtha" as a gift from the Ndgas (Serpents) shows that he received 
his teachings from the secret school of adepts, and that the real tenets 
are therefore kept secret. 

Haga (Sk.). The priests of the Sun, mentioned in the Vishnu 
Purdna. 'I'hey arc the later Magi of Clialdea and Iran, the forefathers 
of the modern Parsis. 

Hagadha (Sk,), An ancient country in India, under Buddhist Kings. 

Hage, or Miigian, L^rom Majir or Maha, The word is the root of the 
w« rd magician. The Maha-atma (the great Soul or Spirit) in India had 
its priests in the proV'edic times. Tlie Magians were priests of the 
fire-god ; we iind them among the Assyrians and Babylonians, as well 
as among tiie I^ersian fire-worshippers. The three Magi, also denominated 
kings, that are said to have made gifts of gold, incense and myrrh to the 
infant Jesus, were fire-worshippers like the rest, and astrologers ; for 
they saw his star. The high priest of the Parsis, at Surat, is called 
Mobed. Others derived the name from Megh ; Meh-ab signifying some- 
thing grand and noble. Zoroaster's disciples were called Meghestom^ 
according to Kleuker. 

Hagi (Lat.), The name of the ancient hereditary priests and learned 
adepts in Persia and Media, a word derived from Mdha, great, which 
became later mog or mag, a priest in l*ehlevi. Porphyry describes them 
{Ahst, iv. 16) as '* The learned men who are engagetl among the Persians 
in the service of the Deity are called Magi ", and Suidas informs us that 
" among the Persians the lovers of wisdom (philalethai) are called Magi ". 



GLOSSARY 197 

The Zendavestd (ii. 171, 261) divides them into three degrees : (i) The 
Herheis or ** Noviciates " ; (2) Mohcds or " Masters " ; (3) Destur Mobedsi or 
"Perfect Masters'*. The Chaldees had similar colleges, as also the 
Egyptians, Destur Moheds being identical with the Hierophants of the 
mysteries, as practised in Greece and Egypt. 

Magic. The great ** Science ". According to Deveria and other 
Orientalists, ** magic was considered as a sacred science inseparable from 
religion " by the oldest and most civilized and learned nations. The 
Egyptians, for instance, were one of the most sincerely religious 
nations, as were and still are the Hindus. ** Magic consists of, and 
is acquired by the worship of the gods ", said Plato. Could then a 
nation, which, owing to the irrefragable evidence of inscriptions and 
papyri, is proved to have firmly believed in magic for thousands of 
years, have been deceived for so long a time. And is it likely that 
generations upon generations of a learned and pious hierarchy, many 
among whom led lives of self-martyrdom, holiness and asceticism, would 
have gone on deceiving themselves and the people (or even only the 
latter) for the pleasure of perpetuating belief in ** miracles " ? Fanatics, 
we are told, will do anything to enforce belief in their god or idols. To 
this we reply : in such case, Brahmans and Egyptian Rekhget-amens (q.v,) 
or Hierophants would not have popularized belief in the power of fnan by 
magic practices to command the services of the gods : which gods, are in truth, 
but the occult powers or potencies of Nature, personified by the learned 
priests themselves, in which they reverenced only the attributes of the 
one unknown and nameless Principle. As Proclus the Platonist ably 
puts it : ** Ancient priests, when they considered that there is a certain 
alliance and sympathy in natural things to each other, and of things 
manifest to occult powers, and discovered that all things subsist in all, 
fabricated a sacred science from this mutual sympathy and similarity. . . , 
and applied for occult purposes, both celestial and terrene natures, by 
means of which, through a certain similitude, they deduced divine virtues 
into this inferior abode ". Magic is the science of communicating with 
and directing supernal, supramundane Potencies, as well as of command- 
ing those of the lower spheres ; a practical knowledge of the hidden 
mysteries of nature known to only the few, because they are so difficult 
to acquire, without falling into sins against nature. Ancient and 
mediaeval mystics divided magic into three classes — Theurgia, Goetia and 
natural Magic. ** Theurgia has long since been appropriated as the 
peculiar sphere of the theosophists and metaphysicians *', says Kenneth 
Mackenzie. Goetia is black magic, and ** natural (or white) magic has 
risen with heahng in its wings to the proud position of an exact and 
progressive study *\ The comments added by our late learned Brother 



198 THEOSOFHICAL 

are remarkable. ** The realistic desires of modern times have contributed 
to bring magic into disrepute and ridicule. . . . Faith (in one's own 
self) is an essential element in magic, and existed long before other ideas 
which presume its pre-existence. It is said that it takes a wise man to 
make a fool ; and a man's ideas must l>e exalted almost to madness, i.e,, 
his brain susceptibilities must be increased far beyond the low, miserable 
status of modern civilization, before he can become a true magician ; 
(for) a pursuit of this science implies a certain amount of isolation and 
an abnegation of Self . A very great isolation, certainly, the achievement 
of which constitutes a wonderful phenomenon, a miracle in itself. 
Withal magic is not something supernatural , As explained by Jamblichus, 
** they through the sacerdotal theurgy announce that they are able to 
ascend to more elevated and universal Essences^ and to those that are 
established above fate, viz.^ to god and the demiurgus: neither employing 
matter, nor assuming any other things besides, except the observation of 
;». sensible time ". Already some are beginning to recognise the existence 
of subtle powers and influences in nature of which they have hitherto 
known nought. But as Dr. Carter Blake truly remarks, **the nineteenth 
centuiy is not that which has observed the genesis of new, nor the com- 
pletion of old, methods of thought " ; to which Mr. Bonwick adds that 
** if the ancients knew but little of our mode of investigations into the 
secrets of nature, we know still less of their mode of research ". 

Hagic, White, or " Beneficent Magic ", so-called, is divitie magic, 
devoid of selfishness, love of power, of ambition, or lucre, and bent only 
on doing good to the world in general, and one's neighbour in particular. 
The smallest attempt to use one's abnormal powers for the gratification 
cf self, makes of these powers sorcery or black magic. 

Ha^ic, Black. (Vide Supra.) 

Magician. This term, once a title of renown and distinction, has come 
to be wholly perverted from its true meaning. Once the synonym of all 
liiat was honourable and reverent, of a possessor of learning and wisdom, 
it has become degraded into an epithet to designate one who is a 
pretender and a juggler ; a charlatan, in short, or one who has " sold his 
soul to the Evil One ", who misuses his knowledge, and employs it for 
low and dangerous uses, according to the teachings of the clergy, and a 
mass of superstitious fools who believe the magician a sorcerer and an 
'* Enchanter ". The word is derived from Magh, Mali, in Sanskrit Mdha 
— great ; a man well versed in esoteric knowledge, (his Unveiled.) 

Magna Hater (Lat.J. ** Great Mother ". A title given in days of old, 
to all the chief goddesses of the nations, such as Diana of Ephesus, Isis, 
Mauth, and many others. 



GLOSSARY 199 

Haines. An expression used by Paracelsus and the mediaeval 
Theosophists. It is the spirit of light, or Aktisa. A word much used by 
the mediaeval Alchemists. 

Magnetic Masonry. Also called *' latric " masonry. It is described as 
a Brotherhood of Healers (from iatrike a Greek word meaning " the art 
of heahng "), and is greatly used by the ** Brothers of Light " as Kenneth 
Mackenzie states in the Royal Masonic Cyclopedia. There appears to be a 
tradition in some secret Masonic works — so says Ragon at any rate, the 
great Masonic authority — to the effect that there was a Masonic degree 
called the Oracle of Cos, ** instituted. in the eighteenth century b.c, from 
the fact that Cos was the birthplace of Hippocrates *'. The iatrike was 
a distinct characteristic of the priests who took charge of the patients 
in the ancient Asclepia, the temples where the god Asclepios (^Esculapius) 
was said to heal the sick and the lame. 

Magnetism. A Force in nature and in man. When it is the former, 
it is an agent which gives jrise to the various phenomena of attraction, of 
polarity, etc. When the latter, it becomes ** animal " magnetism, in 
contradistinction to cosmic, and terrestrial magnetism. 

Magnetism, Animal, While official science calls it a " supposed " 
agent, and utterly rejects its actuahty, the teeming millions of antiquity 
and of the now living Asiatic nations. Occultists, Theosophists, Spirit- 
ualists, and Mystics of every kind and description proclaim it as a well 
established fact. Animal magnetism is a fluids an emanation. Some 
people can emit it for curative purposes through their eyes and the tips 
of their fingers, while the rest of all creatures, mankind, ainimals and 
even every inanimate object, emanate it either as an aura^ or a varying 
light, and that whether consciously or not. When acted upon by contact 
with a patient or by the will of a human operator, it is called ** Mes- 
merism " (q»v,J. 

Hagnum Opus (Lat.J, In Alchemy the final completion, the ** Great 
Labour" or Grand CEuvre ; the production of the ** Philosopher's 
Stone " and ** Elixir of Life " which, though not by far the myth some 
sceptics would have it, has yet to be accepted symbolically, and is full 
of mystic meaning. 

Ha^US (Lat.J, In the New Testament it means a Sage, a wise man of 
the Chaldeans ; it is in English often used for a Alagician, any wonder- 
worker; in the Rosicrucian Society it is the title of the highest members, 
the IXth grade ; the Supreme Magus is the Head of the Order in the 
** Outer " ; the Magi of the ** Inner ' are unknown except to those of the 
Vlllth grade, [w. w. w.J 

Maha Buddhi (Sk.J. Mahat. The Intelligent Soul of the World. 



200 THhOSOPHlCAL 

The seven Prakritis or seven ** natures " or planes, are counted from 
Mahibuddhi downwards. 

Mah& Chohan (Sk,). The chief of a spiritual Hierarchy, or of a 
school of Occultism ; the head of the trans- Himalayan mystics. 

Hah& Deva (Sh,). Lit,^ " great god " ; a title of Siva. 
Mah& Guru (Sk,). Lit,, "great teacher". The Initiator. 
Mahfijwala (Sk,), A certain hell. 

Mah&K&la (SL), "Great Time". A name of Siva as the "Des- 
troyer ", and of Vishnu as the ** Preserver *'. 

Mah& Kalpa (SL). The " great age ". 

Mah& ManYantara (Sk.), Lit,, the great interludes between the 
** Manus ". The period of universal activity. Manvantara implying 
here simply a period of activity, as opposed to Pralaya, or rest — without 
reference to the length of the cycle. 

Hah& M&y& (Sk.),- The great illusion of manifestation. This universe, 
and all in it in their mutual relation, is called the great Illusion or 
Mahdmdyd, It is also the usual title given to Gautama the Buddha*s 
Immaculate Mother — Mayadevi, or the " Great Mystery ", as she is 
called by the Mystics. 

Mah& Pralaya (Sk,), The opposite of Mahamanvantara, literally "the 
great Dissolution ", the " Night " following the " Day of Brahma". It 
is the great rest and sleep of all nature after a period of active manifes- 
tation ; orthodox Christians would refer to it as the " Destruction of the 
World ". 

Hah& Parinibb&na Sutta (Pali,), One of the most authoritative of 
the Buddhist sacred writings. 

Maha Purusha (Sk,), Supreme or Great Spirit. A title of Vishnu. 

Hah& Rajik&s (Sk,), A gana or class of gods 236 in number. Certain 
Forces in esoteric teachings. 

Mahd. Sunyata (Sk,), Space, or eternal law ; the great void or chaos. 

Hah& Yidya (Sk,), The great esoteric science. The highest Initiates 
alone are in possession of this science, which embraces almost universal 
knowledge. 

Haha Yogin (Sk,), The " great ascetic ". A title of Siva. 

Hahi Yuga (Sk,). The aggregate of four Yttgas or ages, of 4,320,000 
solar years : a " Day of Brahma ", in the Brahmanical system ; lit., " the 
great age ". 

Hahabh&rata (Sk,). Lit,, the " great war " ; the celebrated epic poem 
of India (probably the longest poem in the world) which includes both 
the Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gitd "the Song Celestial". No two 



GLOSSARY 20I 

Orientalists agree as to its date. But it is undeniably extremely 
ancient. 

Hah&bh&ratian period. According to the best Hindu Commentators 
and Swami Dayanand Saraswati, 5,000 years b.c. 

Hah&bhashya (Sk,), The great commentary on Panini's grammar 
by Patanjali. 

Hah&bhautio (Sk,). Belonging to the Macrocosmic principles. 

Hah&bhutas (Sk.), Gross elementary principles of matter. 

Hah&rfijahs, The Four (Sk.). The four great Karmic deities with the 
Northern Buddhists placed at the four cardinal points to watch 
mankind. 

HahaP Loka fS^.j. A region wherein dwell i\ie Munis or "Saints" 
during Pralaya ; according to the Puranic accounts. It is the usual 
abode of Bhriga, a Prajipati (Progenitor) and a Rishi, one of the seven 
who are said to be co-existent with Brahma. 

Hah&sura (Sk,), The great Asura ; exoterically — Satan, esoterically 
— the great god. 

Mahat (Sk,), Lit., ** The great one ". The first principle of Universal 
Intelligence and Consciousness. In the Puranic philosophy the first 
product of root-nature or Pradhdna (the same as Mulaprakriti) ; the 
producer of Manas the thinking principle, and of A hankdt a ^ /^oXi^m or 
the feeling of ** I am I " (in the lower Manas). 

Hah&tma. Lit., '* great soul ". An adept of the highest order. 
Exalted beings who, having attained to the mastery over their lower 
principles are thus living unimpeded by the ** man of flesh ", and are in 
possession of knowledge and power commensurate with the stage they 
have reached in their spiritual evolution. Called in Pali Rahats and 
Arhats. 

Hahatmya (Sk,), ** Magnanimity ", a legend of a shrine, or any 
holy place. 

Hahatowarat (Sk,), Used of Parabrahm ; greater than the greatest 
spheres. 

Hahattattwa (Sk,), The first of the seven creations called respec- 
tively in the Purdnas — Mahattattwa, Chuta, Indriya, Mukhya, Tiryaksro- 
tas, Urdhwasrotas and Arvaksrotas. 

Mahora^a (Sk,), Mahd uraga, *' great serpent " — Sesha or any others. 

Mahavanso (Pali,). A Buddhist historical work written by Bhikshu 
Mohanama, the uncle of King Dhatusma. An authority on the history 
of Buddhism and its spread in the island of Ceylon. 

Mahay&na (Pal.). A school ; lit., " the great vehicle ". A mystical 



202 THEOSOPHICAL 

system founded by Nagirjuna. Its books were written in the second 
century B.C. 

Haitreya Buddha (Sk,), The same as the Kalki Avatar of Vishnu (the 
** White Horse " Avatar), and of Sosiosh and other Messiahs. The only 
difference lies in tlie dates of their appearances. Thus, wliile Vishnu 
is expected to appear on his white horse at the end of the present Kali 
Yuga age ** for the final destruction of the wicked, the renovation of 
creation and the restoration of purity ", Maitreya is expected earlier. 
Exoteric or popular teaching making slight variations on the esoteric 
doctrine states that Sakyaniuni (Gautama Buddha) visited him in Tushita 
(a celestial abode) and commissioned him to issue thence on earth as his 
successor at the expiration of five thousand years after his (Buddha's) 
death. This would be in less than 3,000 years hence. • Esoteric 
philosophy teaches that the next Buddha will appear during the seventh 
(sub) race of this Round. The fact is that Maitreya was a follower of 
Buddha, a well-known Arhat, though not his direct disciple, and that he 
was the founder of an esoteric philosophical school. As shown by Eitel 
(Sanskrit-Chinese Diet,), ** statues were erected in his honour as early as 
B.C. 350". 

Hak&ra (Sk.J, ** The Crocodile." In Europe the same as Capricorn; 
the tenth sign of the Zodiac. Esoterically, a mystic class of devas. With 
the Hindus, the vehicle of Varuna, the water-god. 

Hak&ra Ketu (Sk,), A name of Kama, the Hindu god of love and 
desire. 

Hak&ram or Panchakaram (Sk,), In occult symbology a pentagon, the 
five-pointed star, the five limbs, or extremities, of man. Very mystical. 

Mak&ras (Sk.), The iwc M's of the Tantrikas. (See ** Tantra "). 

Malaohlm (Heh,), The messengers or angels. 

Malkuth (Heh.), The Kingdom, the tenth Sephira, corresponding to 
the final H ()U) of the Tetragrammaton or IHVH. It is the Inferior 
Mother, the Bride of the Microprosopus (q»v.); also called the "Queen". 
It is, in one sense, the Shekinah. [w.w.w.] 

Mamitu (Chald,), The goddess of Fate. A kind of Nemesis. 

Manas (Sk.). Lit., **the mind", the mental faculty which makes of 
man an intelligent and moral being, and distinguishes him from the mere 
animal; a synonym of Mahat, Esoterically , hjwevcr, it means, when 
unqualified, the Higher Ego, or the sentient reincarnating Principle in 
man. When qualified it is called by Theosophists Bnddhi-Manas or the 
Spiritual Soul in contradistinction to its human reflection — Kdma-Mauas, 

Manas, Kama (Sk,), Lit,, "• the mind of desire." With the 
Buddhists it is the sixth of the Chaduyatana (q'V,), or the six organs of 



GLOSS AAV 203 

knowledge,- hence the highest of these, synthesized by the seventh called 
Klichta, the spiritual perception of that which defiles this (lower) Manas, 
or the " Human-animal Soul '*, as the Occultists term it. While the 
Higher Manas or the Ego is directly related to Vijndna (the loth of the 
12 Nidanas) — which is the perfect knowledge of all forms of knowledge, 
whether relating to object or subject in the nidanic concatenation of 
causes and effects ; the lower, the Kama Manas is but one of the Imdriya 
or organs (rootsj of Sense. Veiy little can be said of the dual Manas 
here, as the doctrine that treats of it. is correctly stated only in esoteric 
works. Its mention can thus be only very superhcial. 

MjMBiMi Sanyama (Sk.j. VtiUxx c<xicectration of the mind, and 
control over it, during Yoga practices. 

Manas TaijasI (Sk.j. Lit., the -radiant "Manas; a state of the 
Higher Ego, which only high metaphysicians are able to realize and 
comprehend. 

Mftnatta or Mamasvin ^Sk.j. " 1'r^ er^ux of tr«e diiine TrAndy" and 
explained as meaning that ir.is nrfrux r:^r.:nes the mtatuiuifjt div:z^*z yjU':> o\ 
Brahma- Viraj. Nilakantr^ who is rr.-e auih'.rity for this sui:'e:f*ent, 
farther explains the lera: " rr^nasa " Ly wLiM^^mdirs-'^nr^. I'li^-^ Mar^SLsa 
are the Armpd or i3icoT;x>real scr^s 'A the Pr*i;ap%:; Vira;. ;ii ikJ*rATif^ 
version. But as Ariuiia M;sra li^t-iinfrs V:raj *»;:.'. Brah:r-a, and as 
Brahma is Maiiat, the uiiversil rL^z.-:- :h^ exot*m.o \/ui:A i/^jai^^ pl«in. 
The Pitris are ide^iical •a.^rr. tht K\;r*'.ara, Xtjz Va:raja, \:»fi \WziUkr%SL' 
Putra (mind socs^. azei are t,zjs!^'j :/>:::: t.-Se^-i *-:.'- thf: ':.:j::»'aU " V^vi'/^ " - 

Wlinata Dhjiaia 'S\.j. Tr.* hH^'.vt*: Pi:r:.s ;rj ih-: hurtnai; tr*^: 
Agnishwatthas, -ir Srvlar A-Cit=C'>«^= v: Mir., try/s-t -who .v-a/'^: of Mar* ^ 
rational beine. Lir :i>rar:.£:.i^' :i. 1.0^ =*tr.?*^,*r»v forr.'.v o: vi^.-.i-^^^ryrreal 
flesh of the njtii '.2 irjt !:.«::: ri.*:^. >tif: '• ,., li, %: '-^;n; h'^itntu,, 

M4«;.;5tt , 

sacred lake ii: T:l#tr- :i. :,'^ if .v-*^ -vx i,v, --r,.^^; Arji\t*^f.Ut. Mi^/.^^* 
sarovara is ':1j^.z^zz^, x :.o* ! .te^.- '>r.* * -,: ::^* ^^*: *'--. */yyx;*r*i^ 

yearly pL^.:;LAi-* ivr iryt };,.v. ,.v i^ v,.* /V:tr; *r* -,.;«..•/>/. v, ;,^ ii '^-^rs. 
written 'jci :i» kujctn^ 

'■•j&, *,V, -*:'-- OV^ '/ ^ n %^', '-^ 'V '^^^'-- 



gence, the iicji.o'XTa. zJ^j-z :r. vyrr.. -vf^*: - >i-«;.;itt 






204 THEOSOPHICAL 

Handara (Sk,). The mountain used by the gods as a stick to chum 
the ocean of milk in the Put anas, 

Hand&kini (Sk.), The heavenly Ganga or Ganges. 

Handragora (Gr,), A plant whose root has the human form. In 
Occultism it is used by black magicians for various illicit objects, and 
some of the ** left-hand "Occultists make //^;;/««r«/t with it. It is commonly 
called mandrake, and is supposed to cry out when pulled out of the 
ground. 

Hanes or Manus (Lat,J, Benevolent **gods", i,e,j "spooks" of the 
lower world (Kdmaloka) ; the deified shades of the dead — of the ancient 
profane, and the** materialized "^/i^s/s of the modem Spiritualists, believed 
to be the souls of the departed, whereas, in truth, they are only their 
empty shells, or images. 

HaniohflBans (Lat,), A sect of the third century which believed in two 
eternal principles of good and evil ; the former furnishing mankind with 
souls, and the latter with bodies. This sect was founded by a certain half- 
Christian mystic named Mani, who gave himself out as the expected 
** Comforter ", the Messiah and Christ. Many centuries later, after the 
sect was dead, a Brotherhood arose, calling itself the ** Manichees ", of 
a masonic character with several degrees of initiation. Their ideas were 
Kabalistic, but were misunderstood. 

Hano (Gnost,), The Lord of Light. Rex Lucis, in the Codex Nazaraus, 
He is the Second ** Life " of the second or manifested trinity '* the 
heavenly life and light, and older than the architect of heaven and earth" 
{Cod, Naz., Vol. I. p. 145). These trinities areas follows. The Supreme 
Lord of splendour and of liglit, luminous and refulgent, before which no 
other existed, is called Corona (the crown) ; Lord Ferho, the unrevealed 
life which existed in the former from eternity ; and Lord Jordan — the 
spirit, the living water of grace (Ibid. II., pp. 45-51). He is the one through 
whom alone we can be saved. These three constitute the trinity in 
abscondito. The second trinity is composed of the three lives. The 
first is the similitude of Lord Ferho, through whom he has proceeded 
forth ; and the second Ferho is the King of Light — Mano. The second 
life is Ish Anion (Pleroma), the vase of election, containing the visible 
thought of the Jordanus Maximus — the type (or its intelligible reflection), 
the prototype of the living water, who is the ** spiritual Jordan ". 
(Ibid, II., p. 211.) The third life, which is produced by the other two, is 
Abatur {Ab, the Parent or Father). This is the mysterious and decrepit 
** Aged of the Aged", the Ancient ** Scnem sui obtegcntem et grandavum mundi,*' 
This latter third Life is the Father of the Demiurge Fetahil, the Creator 
of the world, whom the Ophites call Ilda-Baoth (q.v.J, though Fetahil is 
the only-begotten one, the reflection of the Father, Abatur, who begets him 



GLOSSARY 205 

by looking into the " dark water ". Sopliia Achamoth also begets her 
Son Ilda-Baoth the Demiurge^ by looking into the chaos of matter. But 
the Lord Mano, ** the Lord of loftiness, the Lord of all genii ", is higher 
than the Father, in tliis kabalistic Codex — one is purely spiritual, the other 
material. So, for instance, while Ahatur*s ** only-begotten " one is the 
genius Fetahil, the Creator of the physical world, Lord Mano, the ** Lord 
of Celsitude ", who is the son of Him, who is ** the Father of all who 
preach the Gospel ", produces also an ** only-begotten " one, the 
Lord Lehdaio, ** a just Lord ". He is the Christos, the anointed, who 
pours out the ** grace " of the Invisible Jordan, the Spirit of the Highest 
Croum, (See for further information his Unveiled, Vol. H., pp. 227, et, seq.) 

Hanodhatu (Sk.), Lit,, the ** World of the mind ", meaning not only 
all our mental faculties, but also one of the divisions of the plane of 
mind. Each human being: has his Manodhatu or plane of thought pro- 
portionate with the degree of his intellect and his mental faculties, beyond 
which he can go only by studying and developing his higher spiritual 
faculties in one of the higher spheres of thought. 

Manomaya Kosha (Sk,), A Vedantic term, meaning the Sheath 
(Kosha) of the Manofnaya, an equivalent for fourth and fifth ** principles '* 
in man. In esoteric philosophy this ** Kosha " corresponds to the dual 
Manas, 

Manticism, or M antic Frenzy, During this state was developed the 
gift of prophec)'. The two words are nearly synonymous. One was as 
honoured as the other. Pythagoras and Plato held it in high esteem, 
and Socrates advised his disciples to study Manticism. The Church 
Fathers, who condemned so severely the mantic frenzy in Pagan priests 
and Pythia}, were not above applying it to their own uses. The 
Montanists, who took their name from Montanus, a bishop of Phrygia, 
who was considered divinely inspired, contended with the/idircts (manteis) 
or prophets. ** Tertullian, Augustine, and the martyrs of Carthage, 
were of the number", says the author of Prophecy, Ancient and Modern, 
** The Montanists seem to have resembled the Bacchantes in the wild 
enthusiasm that characterized their orgies," he adds. There is a diversity 
of opinion as to the origin of the word Manticism, There was the famous 
Mantis the Seer, in the days of Melampus and Proetus, King of Argos ; 
and there was Manto, the daughter of the prophet of Thebes, herself a 
prophetess. Cicero describes prophecy and mantic frenzy, by saying, 
that ** in the inner recesses of the mind is divine prophecy hidden and 
confined, a divine impulse, which when it burns more vividly is called 
furor", frenzy. (I sis Unveiled.) 

Hantra period (Sk,), One of the four periods into which Vedic 
literature has been divided. 



Mantra Shastra (Sk./, Hrahmanical writings on the occult sciencp 
of incantations. 

Hantra TantraShfistras^SiJ. \\'orks on incantations, but specially 
on magic. 

Hantras fSk.). Verses from the \'edic works, used as incantations 
and charms. By Mantras are meant all those portions of the Vedas 
which are distinct from the Brakmanas, or their interpretation. 

Hantrika Bakti iSk.). The power, or the occult potency of mystic 
words, sounds, numbers ot letters in these Mantras. 

Hoqjnsri (Tib.). The God of Wisdom. In Esoteric philosophy a 
certain Dhyan Chohan, 

Mann (Sk.). The great Indian legislator. The name comes from 
the Sanskrit root man " to think " — mankind really, but stands for Swdy- 
anibhuva, the first of the Manus, who started from Swnyambku, " the self- 
existent " henco the Logos, and the progenitor of mankind. Manu is the 
first Legislator, almost a Divine Ueing. 

Manu Swayambhava (Sk). The heavenly man. Adam-Kadmon, 
the synthesis of the fourteen Manus. 

ManUB (Sk.). The fourteen Manus are the patrons or guardians of the 
race cycles in a Manvanlara, or Day of brahmi. The primeval Manus 
are seven, they become fourteen in the Pttrd»as. 

Hanushi or Manushi Buddhai (Sk.). Human Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, 
or incarnated Dhyan Chohans. 

Hanvantara (Sk.). A period of manifestation, as opposed to Pralaya 
(dissolution, or rest), applied to various cycles, especially to a Day of 
Brahma, 4,320,000,000 Solar years— and to the reign of one Manu — 
308,448,000. (See Vol. II. of the Secret Doctrine, p. 68 et. stq.) Lit., 
Manuaniara — between Manus. 

Haqnom (Ckald.) •' A secret place " in the phraseology of the Zoluir,a, 
concealed spot, whether referring to a sacred shrine in a temple, to the 
" Womb of the World ", or the human womb. A Kabalistic term. 

Mara (Sk.). The god of Temptation, the Seducer who tried to turn 
away Buddha from his Path. He is called the " Destroyer " and 
" Death " (of the Soul). One of the names of Kama, God of love. 

Harabnt. A Mahometan pilgrim who has been to Mekka, a saint. After 
his death his body is placed in an open sepulchre built above ground, 
hke otiier buildings, but in the middle of the streets and public places of 
populated cities. Placed inside the small and only room of the tomb 
(and several such public sarcophagi of brick and mortar may be seen to 
this day in the streets and squares of Cairo), the devotion of the way- 
farers keeps a lamp ever burning at his head. The tombs of some of 



GLOSSARY 



207 



these marabuts are very famous for the miracles they are alleged to 
perform. 

Harcionites. An ancient Gnostic Sect founded by Marcion who was 
a devout Christian as long as no dogma of human creation came to mar 
the purely transcendental, and metaphysical concepts, and the original 
beliefs of the early Christians. Such primitive beliefs were those of 
Marcion. He denied the historical facts (as now found in the Gospels) ot 
Christ's birth, incarnation and passion, and also the resurrection of the 
body of Jesus, maintaining that such statements were simply the carnali- 
zation of metaphysical allegories and symbolism, and a degradation of 
the true spiritual idea. Along with all the other Gnostics, Marcion 
accused the ** Church Fathers *', as Irenaeus himself complains, of 
** framing their (Christian) doctrine according to the capacity of their 
hearers, fabling blind things for the blind, according to their blindness ; 
for the dull, according to their dulness : for those in error, according to 
their errors.*' 

Hfirga (Sk,), The ** Path", The Ashthdnga mdrga, the ** holy " or 
sacred path is the one that leads to Nirvana. The eight-fold path has 
grown out of the seven-fold path, by the addition of the (now) first of the 
eight Marga ; i.e., ** the possession of orthodox views " ; with which a 
real Yogdcharya would have nothing to do. 

Harichi (Sk,), One of the ** mind-born " sons of Brahm^, in the 
Purdnas. Brahmans make of him the personified hght, the parent of 
Surya, the Sun and the direct ancestor of Mahak^syapa. The Northern 
Buddhists of the Yogacharya School, see in Marichi Deva, a Bodhis- 
attva, while Chinese Buddhists (especially the Tauists), have made of 
this conception the ^ueen of Heaven, the goddess of light, ruler of the 
sun and moon. With the pious but illiterate Buddhists, her magic 
formula **0m Marichi svaha " is very powerful. Speaking of Marichi, 
Eitel mentions ** Georgi, who explains the name as a * Chinese transcrip- 
tion of the name of the holy Virgin Mary ' " (! !). As Marichi is the 
chief of the Maruts and one of the seven primitive Rishis, the sup- 
posed derivation does seem a little far fetched. 

M&risha (Sk.J, The daughter of the Sage Kanda and Pramlocha, the 
Apsara-demon from Indra's heaven. She was the mother of Daksha. 
An allegory referring to the Mystery of the Second and Third human 
Races. 

HartinistB. A Society in France, founded by a great mystic called 
the Marquis de St. Martin, a disciple of Martinez PasquaHs. It was 
first established at Lyons as a kind of occult Masonic Society, its 
members believing in the • possibility of communicating with Planetary 



2o8 THKOSOPHICAL 

Spirits and minor Gods and genii of the ultramundane Spheres. Louis 
Claude de St. Martin, born in 1743, had commenced life as a brilliant 
officer in the army, but left it to devote himself to study and the belles 
letires, ending his career by becoming an ardent Theosophist and a disciple 
of Jacob Bochmen. He tried to bring back Masonry to its primeval 
character ol Occultism and Theurgy, but failed. He first made his 
'* Rectified Kite '* to consist often degrees, but these were brought down 
owing to the study of the original Masonic orders — to seven. Masons 
complain that he introduced certain ideas and adopted rites ** at variance 
with the archxological history of Masonry " ; but so did Cagliostro and 
St Germain l>efore him, as all those who knew well the origin of Free- 
masonry. 

H&rttanda fSk,), The Vedic name of the Sun. 

H&mt Jivas (Sk,). The monads of Adepts who have attained the 
final liberation, but prefer to re-incarnate on earth for the sake of 
Humanity. Not to be confused, however, with the Nirmdnakdyas, who 
are far higher. 

Hamts (Sk,), With the Orientalists Storm-Gods, but in the Veda 
something very mystical. In the esoteric teachings as they incarnate in 
every round, they are simply identical with some of the Agnishwatta 
Pitris, the Human intelligent Egos. Hence the allegory of Siva trans- 
forming the lumps of flesh into boys, and calling them Maruts, to show 
senseless men transformed by becoming the Vehicles of the Pitris or 
Fire Maruts, and thus rational beings. 

Masben .*. (Chald,}, A Masonic term meaning ** the Sun in putrefac- 
tion ". Has a direct reference — perhaps forgotten by the Masons — to 
their " Word at Low Breath ". 

Mash-Mak. By tradition an Atlantean word of the fourth Race, to 
denote a mysterious Cosmic fire, or rather Force, which was said to be 
able to pulverize in a second whole cities and disintegrate the world. 

Masorah (Ileb,), The name is especially applied to a collection of 
notes, explanatory, grammatical and critical, which are found on the 
margin of ancient Hebrew MSS., or scrolls of the Old Testament. The 
Masoretes were also called Melchites. 

Masoretic Points, or Vowels (Heb.J. Or, as the system is now called, 
Masora from Massoreh or Massoreth, ** tradition ", and Mdsar^ to ** hand 
down ". The Rabbins who busied themselves witli the Masorah, hence 
called Masorites, were also the inventors of the Masoretic points, 
which are supposed to give the vowelless words of the Scriptures their 
true pronunciation, by the addition of points representing vowels to 
the consonants. This was the invention of the learned and cunning 
Rabbins of the School of Tiberias (in the ninth century of our era), who, 



GLOSSARY 



209 



by doing so, have put an entirely new construction on the chief words and 
names in the Books of Moses, and made thereby confusion still more 
confounded. The truth is, that this scheme has only added additional 
blinds to those already existing in the Pentateuch and other works. 

Hastaba (Eg,). The upper portion of an Egyptian tomb, which, say 
the Egyptologists, consisted always of tliree parts: namely (i) the 
Mastaba or memorial chapel above ground, (2) a Pit from twenty to 
ninety feet in depth, which led by a passage, to (3) the Burial Chamber, 
where stood the Sarcophagus, containing the mummy sleeping its sleep of 
long ages. Once the latter interred, the pit was filled up and the 
entrance to it concealed. Thus say the Orientalists, who divide the last 
resting place of the mummy on almost the same principles as theologians 
do man — into body, soul, and spirit or mind. The fact is, that these 
tombs of the ancients were symbolical like the rest of their sacred 
edifices, and that this symbology points directly to the septenary 
division of man. But in death the order is reversed ; and while the 
Mastaba with its scenes of daily life painted on the walls, its table of 
offerings, to the Larva, the ghost, or ** Linga Sarira ", was a memorial 
raised to the two Principles and Life which had quitted that which was 
a lower trio on earth ; the Pit, the Passage, the Burial Chambers 
and the mummy in the Sarcophagus, were tlie objective symbols raised 
to the two perishable *' principles ", the personal mind and Kama, and the 
three imperishable, the higher Triad, now merged into one. This **One" 
was the Spirit of the Blessed now resting in the Happy Circle of 
Aanroo. 

Matari Svan (Sk,). An aerial l>eing shown in Rig-Veda bringing 
down agni or fire to the Bhrigus ; who are called ** The Consumers", and 
are described by the Orientalists as ** a class of mythical beings who 
belonged to the middle or aerial class of gods". In Occultism the 
Bhrigus are simply the ** Salamanders " of the Rosicrucians and 
Kabalists. 

Materializations. In Spiritualism the word signifies the objective 
appearance ot the so-called ** Spirits " of the dead, who reclothe them- 
selves occasionally in matter ; i,e., they form for themselves out of the 
materials at hand, w^hich are found in the atmosphere and the emanations 
of those present, a temporary body bearing the human likeness of the 
defunct as he appeared, when alive. Theosophists accept the phenome- 
non of ** materialization"; but they reject the theory that it is produced 
by ** Spirits ", i.e,, the immortal principles of the disembodied persons. 
Theosophists hold that when the phenomenon is genuine — and it is a 
fact of rarer occurrence than is generally believed — it is produced by the 
larva^ the eidola or Kamalokic '* ghosts " of the dead personalities. (See 

o 



aiO THEOSOPHICAL 

" K&madh4tu ", «* Kamaloka " and ** K&marupa ".) As K4maloka is on 
the earth plane and differs from its degree of materiality only in the 
degree of its plane of consciousness, for which reason it is concealed 
from our normal sight, the occasional apparition of such shells is as 
natural as that of electric balls and other atmospheric phenomena. 
Electricity as a fluid, or atomic matter (for Theosophists hold with 
Maxwell that it is atomic), though in\'isible, is ever present in the air, 
and manifests under various shapes, hut only when certain conditions 
are there to " materialize " the fluid, when it passes from its own on to 
our plane and| makes itself objective. Similarly with the eidola of the 
dead. They are present, around us, but being on another plane do not 
see us any more than we see them. But whenever the strong desires of 
living men and the conditions furnished by the abnormal constitutions 
of mediums are combined together, these eidola are drawn — nay, pulUd 
down from their plane on to ours and made objective. This is Necromancy ; 
it does no good to the dead, and great harm to the living, in addition to 
the fact that it interferes with a law of nature. The occasional materiali- 
zation of the ** astral bodies " or doubles of living persons is quite another 
matter. These ** astrals " are often mistaken for the apparitions of the 
dead, since, chameleon-like, our own ** Elementaries ", along with those 
of the disembodied and cosmic Elementals, will often assume the 
appearance of those images which are strongest in our thoughts. In 
short, at the so-called "materialization'* stances it is those present and 
the medium, vfho create the peculiar likeness of the apparitions. Indepen- 
dent ** apparitions " belong to another kind of psychic phenomena. 
Materializations are also called ** form-manifestations'* and ** portrait 
statues '*. To call them materialized spirits is inadmissible, for they are 
not spirits but animated portrait-statues, indeed. 

Hathadhipatis (Sk,), Heads of various religious Brotherhoods in 
India, High Priests in Monasteries. 

Hatr& (Sk,), The shortest period of time as applied to the duration 
of sounds, equal to the twinkling of the eye. 

H&tr& (Sk,), The quantity of a Sanskrit Syllable. 

H&tripadma (Sk,). The mother-lotus; the womb of Nature. 

H&tris (Sk,). ** Mothers," the divine mothers. Their number is 
seven. They are the female aspects and powers of the gods. 

Hatronethah (Heb, Kab,), Identical with Malcuth, the tenth Sephira. 
Lit, J Matrona is the ** inferior mother*'. 

Matsya (Sk.). ** A fish." Matsya avatar was ere of the earliest 
incarnations of Vishnu, 



GLOSSARY 211 

Matsya Par&na (Sk,). The Scripture or Purina which treats of that 
incarnation. 

Hay& (Sk,), Illusion ; the cosmic power which renders phenomenal 
existence and the perceptions thereof possible. In Hindu philosophy 
that alone which is 'changeless and eternal is called reality ; all that 
which is subject to change through decay and differentiation and which 
has therefore a beginning and an end is regarded as nmyd — illusion. 

H&y& Hoha (Sk,), An illusive form assumed by Vishnu in order to 
deceive ascetic Daityas who were becoming too holy through austerities 
and hence too dangerous in power, as says the Vishnu Purdtia, 

H&y&Yi Rfipa (Sk,). " Illusive form ** ; the ** double " in esoteric 
philosophy ; ddppel ganger or perisprity in German and French. 

Hayavio Upadhi (Sk,), The covering of illusion, phenomenal 
appearance. 

Hazdeans. From (Ahura) Mazda. (See Spiegel's Yasna, xl.) They 
were the ancient Persian nobles who worshipped Ormazd, and, rejecting 
images, inspired the Jews with the same horror for every concrete repre- 
sentation of the Deity. They seem in Herodotus' time to have been 
superseded by the Magian religionists. The Parsis and Gebers, 
{geberim, mighty men, of Genesis vi. and x. 8) appear to be Magian 
religionists. 

Hazdiasnian. Zoroastrian ; lit., ** worshipping god ". 

H'bul (Heh,), The ** waters of the flood ". Esoterically, the periodical 
outpourings of astral impurities on to the earth ; periods of psychic 
crimes and iniquities, or of regular moral cataclysms. 

Hedini (Sk,), The earth ; so-called from the marrow (medas) of two 
demons. These monsters springing from the ear of the sleeping Vishnu, 
were preparing to kill Brahma who was lying on the lotus which grows 
from Vishnu's navel, when the god of Preservation awoke and killed them. 
Their bodies being thrown into the sea produced such a quantity of fat 
and marrow that Narayana used it to form the earth with. 

HegacoBm (Gr,). The world of the Astral light, or as explained by a 
puzzled Mason ** a great world, not identical with Macrocosm, the 
Universe, but something between it and Microcosm, the little world '* or 
man. 

Mehen (Eg,), In popular myths, the great serpent which represents 
the lower atmosphere. In Occultism, the world of the Astral light, 
called symbolically the Cosmic Dragon and the Serpent. (See the 
works of Eliphaz Levi, who called this light le Serpent du Mai, and by 
other names, attributing to it all the evil influences on the earth.) 

Melekh (Heh.), Lit., "a King". A title of the Sephira Tiphereth, 



212 THEOSOPHICAL 

the V, or van in the tetragrammaton — the son or Microprosopus (the Lesser 
Face). 
Helhas (Sk,). A class of fire-gods or Salamanders. 

Hemrab (Heb,). In the Kabala, " the voice of the will " ; i,e., the collec- 
tive forces of nature in activity, called the ** Word *', or Logos^ by the 
Jewish Kabalists. 

Mendsans (Gr,), Also called Sabians, and St. John Christians. The 
latter is absurd, since, according to all accounts, and even their own, 
they have nothing at all to do with Christianity, tifhich they abominate. 
The modern sect of the Menda?ans is widely scattered over Asia Minor 
and elsewhere, and is rightly believed by several Orientalists to be a 
direct surviving relic of the Gnostics. For as explained in the Dictionnaire 
des Apocryphes by the Abbe Migne (art. ** Le Code Nazarean " vulgaire- 
mentappelc ^^ Livre d' Adam''),X.\\c Menda^ans (written in Yx&nch Manddites^ 
which name they pronounce as Mandai) ** properly signifies science, know- 
ledge or Gnosis, Thus it is the equivalent of Gnostics " (loc. cit, note 
p. 3). As the above cited work sliows, although many travellers have 
spoken of a sect whose followers are variously named Sabians, St. John's 
Christians and Menda?ans, and who are scattered around ScJiat-Etarab 
at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates (principally at Bassorah, 
Hove'iza, Korna, etc.), it was Norberg who was the first to point out a 
tribe belonging to the same sect established in Syria. And they are 
the most interesting of all. This tribe, some 14,000 or 15,000 in number, 
lives at a day's march east of Mount Lebanon, principally at Elmerkah, 
(Lata-Kieh). They call themselves indifferently Nazarenes and Gali- 
leans, as they originally come to Syria from Galilee. They claim that 
their religion is the same as that of St. John the Baptist, and that it has 
not changed one bit since his day. On festival days they clothe them- 
selves in camel's skins, sleep on camel's skins, and eat locusts and honey 
as did their ** Father, St. John the Baptist ". Yet they call Jesus Christ 
an impostor J a false Messiah, and Nebso (or the planet Mercury in its evil 
side), and show him as a production of the Spirit of the ** seven badly- 
disposed stellars" (or planets). See Codex Nazaranis, which is their 
Scripture. 

Hendes (Gr,). The name of the demon-goat , alleged by the Church of 
Rome to have been worshipped by the Templars and other Masons. But 
this goat was a myth created by the evil fancy of the odium tfieologicum. 
There never was such a creature, nor was its worship known among 
Templars or their predecessors, the Gnostics. The god of Mendes, or the 
Greek Mendesius, a name given to Lower Egypt in pre-Christian days, 
was the ram-headed god Ammon, the living and holy spirit of i?a, the 
life-giving sun ; and this led certain Greek authors into the error of 



GLOSSARY 115 

affirming that the Egyptians called the ** goat " (or the r^iw-headed god) 
himself, Mendes. Ammon was for ages the chief deity of Egypt, 
the supreme god ; Amoun-Ra the ** hidden god '*, or Amen (the concealed) 
the Self -engendered who is ** his own father and his own son **. Esoteri- 
cally, he was Pan, the god of nature or nature personified, and probably 
the cloven foot of Pan the goat-footed, helped to produce the error of this 
god being a goat. As Amnion's shrine was at Pa-bi-neh-tat, "the dwell- 
ing of Tat or Spirit, Lord of Tat " (Bindedi in the Assyrian inscriptions), 
the Greeks first corrupted the name into Bendes and then into Mendes 
from ** Mendesius". The ** error " served ecclesiastical purposes too well 
to be made away with, even when recognized. 

Hensambolism (Lat,), A word coined by some French Kabalists to 
denote the phenomenon of ** table turning" from the Latin mensa, a table. 

Meracha phath (Heb,J, Used of the ** breathing " of the divine 
Spirit when in the act of hovering over the waters of space before crea- 
tion (See Siphra Dzeniutha), 

Hercavah or Mercabah (Heb.), A chariot : the Kabalists say that the 
Supreme after he had established the Ten Sephiroth used them as a 
chariot or throne of glory on which to descend upon the souls of men. 

Herodach (Chald.). God of Babylon, the Bel of later times. He is 
the son of Davkina, goddess of the lower regions, or the earth, and of Hea, 
God of the Seas and Hades with the Orientalists ; but esoterically and 
with the Akkadians, the Great God of Wisdom, " he who resurrects the 
dead ". Hea, Ea, Dagon or Oannes and Merodach are one. 

Heru (Sk,), The name of an alleged mountain in the centre (or 
** navel ") of the earth where Swarga, the Olympus of the Indians, is 
placed. It contains the ** cities " of the greatest gods and the abodes 
of various Devas. Geographically accepted, it is an unknown mountain 
north of the Himalayas. In tradition, Meru was the ** Land of Bliss " 
of the earliest Vedic times. It is also referred to as Hemddri **the golden 
mountain", Ratnasdnu, ^^ \e\wc\ peak '\ Karnikdchala, ** lotus mountain", 
and Amarddri and Deva-parvata^ "the mountain of the gods". The 
Occult teachings place it in the very centre of the North Pole, pointing 
it out as the site of the first continent on our earth, after the solidification 
of the globe. 

Heshia and Meshiane (Zend), The Adam and Eve of the Zoroas- 
trians, in the early Persian system ; the first human couple. 

MeBmtTf Friedrich Anton, The famous physician who rediscovered and 
applied practically that magnetic fluid in man which was called animal 
magnetism and since then Mesmerism. He was born in Schwaben, in 
1734, and died in 181 5. He was an initiated member of the Brother- 



214 TheosophicaL 

hoods of the Fraires Lucis and of Lukshoor (or Luxor), or the Eg3rptian 
Branch of the latter. It was the Council of " Luxor " which selected 
him — according to the orders of the ** Great Brotherhood '* — to act in 
the XVIIIth century as their usual pioneer, sent in the last quarter of 
every century to enHghten a small portion of the Western nations in 
occult lore. It was St. Germain who supervised the development of events 
in this case ; and later Cagliostro was commissioned to help, but having 
made a series of mistakes, more or less fatal, he was recalled. Of these 
three men who were at first regarded as quacks, Mesmer is already 
vindicated. The justification of the two others will follow in the next 
century. Mesmer founded the ** Order of Universal Harmony " in 1783, 
in which presumably only animal magnetism was taught, but which in 
reality expounded the tenets of Hippocrates, the methods of the ancient 
Asclepieia, the Temples of Healing, and many other occult sciences. 

Metatron (Heh.), The Kabbalistic ** Prince of Faces*', the Intelligence 
of the First Sephira, and the reputed ruler of Moses. His numeration 
is 314, the same as the deity title " Shaddai **, Almighty. He is also the 
Angel of the world of Briah, and he who conducted the Israelites through 
the Wilderness, hence, the same as ** the Lord God ** Jehovah. The 
name resembles the Greek words metathtonon or ** beside the Throne ". 
[w.w.w.] 

Metempsyohosis. The progress of the soul from one stage of existence 
to another. Symbolized as and vulgarly believed to be rebirths in animal 
bodies. A term generally misunderstood by every class of European 
and American society, including many scientists. Metempsychosis should 
apply to animals alone. The kabalistic axiom, ** A stone becomes a 
plant, a plant an animal, an animal a man, a man a spirit, and a spirit a 
god '*, receives an explanation in Manu's Mdnava-DhMrma-Shastra and 
other Brahmanical books. 

Metis (Gr,), Wisdom. The Greek theology associated Metis — 
Divine Wisdom, with Eros — Divine Love. The word is also said to 
form part of the Templars' deity or idol Baphomet, which some authori- 
ties derive from Baphe^ baptism, and Metis ^ wisdom ; while others say 
that the idol represented the two teachers whom the Templars equally 
denied, viz,. Papa or the Pope, and Mahomet, [w.w.w.] 

Midgard (Scand,), The great snake in the Eddas which gnaws the 
roots of the Yggdrasil — the Tree of Life and the Universe in the legend 
of the Norsemen. Midgard is the Mundane Snake of Evil. 

Hidrashim (Heb,), "Ancient" — the same as Purdna; the ancient 
writings of the JeWs as the Purdnas are called the ** Ancient " (Scrip- 
tures) of India. 



Glossary ^15 

Migmar (T%h.). The planet Mars. 

Him&n8& (Sk,). A school of philosophy ; one of the six in India. 
There are two Mtmans^, the older and the younger. The first, the 
" Piirva-Mtm&ns& *', was founded by Jamini, and the later or " Uttara- 
Mimansa ", by a Vyasa — and is now called the Vedanta school. Sanka- 
r&chdrya was the most prominent apostle of the latter. The Vedllnta 
school is the oldest of all the six Darshana (lit,, ** demonstrations "), but 
even to the PClrva-Miminsi no higher antiquity is allowed than 500 B.C. 
Orientalists in favour of the absurd idea that all these schools are ** due 
to Greek influence **, in order to have them fit their theory would make 
them of still later date. The Sltad-darsliana (or Six Demonstrations) have 
all a starting point in common, and maintain that ex ttihilo nihil /it. 

Himir (Scand.), A wise giant in the Eddas, One of the Jotuns or 
Titans. He had a well which he watched over (Mimir's well), which 
contained the waters of Primeval Wisdom, by drinking of which Odin 
acquired the knowledge of all past, present, and future events. 

Hinas (Sk,), The same as Meenam, the Zodiacal sign Pisces or Fishes. 

Minos (Gr,), The great Judge in Hades. An'ancient King of Crete. 

Hiolner (Scand,), The storm-hammer of Thor (See '* Svastica ") made 
for him by the Dwarfs ; with it the God conquered men and gods alike. 
The same kind of magic weapon as the Hindu Agneyastra, the fire- 
weapon. 

HirroF. The Luminous Mirror, Aspaqularia nera, a Kabbalistic term, 
means the power of foresight and farsight, prophecy such as Moses had. 
Ordinary mortals have only the Aspaqularia della nera or Non Luminous 
Mirror, they see only in a glass darkly : a parallel symbolism is that of 
the conception of the Tree of Life, and that only of the Tree of Know- 
ledge, [w.w.w.] 

Hishnah (Heh,), The older portion of the Jewish Talmud, or oral 
law, consisting of supplementary regulations for the guidance of the Jews 
with an ample commentary. The contents are arranged in six sections, 
treating of Seeds, Feasts, Women, Damages, Sacred Things and Purifi- 
cation. Rabbi Judah Haunasee codified the Mishnah about a.d. 140. 
[w.w.w.] 

Mistletoe. This curious plant, which grows only as a parasite upon 
other trees, such as the apple and the oak, was a mystic plant in several 
ancient religions, notably that of the Celtic Druids : their priests cut the 
Mistletoe with much ceremony at certain seasons, and then only with a 
specially consecrated golden knife. Hislop suggests as a religious 
explanation that the Mistletoe being a Branch growing out of a Mother 
tree was worshipped as a Divine Branch out of an Earthly Tree, the 



ii6 theosophicaL 

union of deity and humanity. The name in German means ** all heal". 
Compare the Golden Branch in Virgil's iEneid, vi. 126 : and Pliny, Hist. 
Nat., xvii. 44. ** Sacerdos Candida veste cultus arborem scandit, falce aurea 
dcmctit,'* [w.w.w.] 

Hitra or Miihra, (Pers,) An ancient Iranian deity, a sun-god, as 
evidenced by his being Hon-headed. The name exists also in India and 
means a form of the sun. The Persian Mithra, he who drove out of 
lieaven Ahriman, is a kind of Messiah who is expected to return as the 
judge of men, and is a sin-hearing god who atones for the iniquities of 
mankind. As such, however, he is directly connected with the highest 
Occultism, the tenets of which were expounded during the Mithraic 
Mysteries which thus bore his name. 

Mitre. The head-dress of a religious dignitary, as of a Roman Catholic 
Bishop : a cap ending upwards in two lips, like a fish*s head with open 
mouth — OS tinctv — associated with Dagon, the Babylonian deity, the word 
dag meaning fish. Curiously enough the os uteri has been so called in 
the human female and the fish is related to the goddess Aphrodite who 
sprang from the sea. It is curious also that the ancient Chaldee Jegends 
speak of a religious teacher coming to them springing out of the sea, 
named Cannes and Annedotus, half fish, half man. [w.w.w.] 

Hizraim (Kg.), The name of Egypt in very ancient times. This 
name is now connected with Freemasonry. See the rite of Mizraim and 
the rite of Memphis in Masonic Cyclopaedias. 

Hlechchhas (Sk.). Outcasts. The name given to all foreigners, and 
those who are non-Aryas. 

Mnevis (Eg.), The bull Mnevis, the Son of Ptah, and the symbol of 
the Sun-god Ra, as Apis was supposed to be Osiris in the sacred bull- 
form. His abode w-as at Heliopolis, the City of the Sun. He was 
black and carried on his horns tlie sacred uncus and disk. 

Mobeds (Zend), Parsi, or Zoroastrian priests. 

Moira (Gr.), The same as the Latin Fatum — fate, destiny, the power 
which rules over the actions, sufl'eriugs, the hfe and struggles of men. 
But this is not Karma ; it is only one of its agent-forces. 

Moksha (Sk,). ** Liberation." The same as Nirvana; a post- 
mortem state of rest and bliss of the '* Soul-Pilgrim ". 

Monad (Cjr,). The Unity, the one ; but in Occultism it often means 
the unified triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the duad, Atma-Buddhi, that 
immortal part of man which reincarnates in the lower kingdoms, and 
gradually progresses through them to Man and then to the final goal — 
Nirvana. 

Honas ("Gr.j. The same as the term Monad; "Alone", a unit. In 



6LossarV il7 

the Pythagorean system the duad emanates from the higher and solitary 
Mcmas, which is thus the ** First Cause ". 

Honogenes (Gr,). Lit.y ** the only-begotten " ; a name of Proserpine 
and other gods and goddesses. 

Moon. The earth^s satellite has figured very largely as an emblem in 
the religions of antiquity ; and most commonly has been represented as 
Female, but this is not universal, for in the myths of the Teutons and 
Arabs, as well as in the conception of the Rajpoots of India (see Tod, 
Hist,), and in Tartary the moon was male. Latin authors speak of 
Luna, and also of Lunus, but with extreme rarity. The Greek name is 
Selene, the Hebrew Lebanah and also Yarcah. In Egypt the moon was 
associated with Isis, in Phenicia with Astarte and in Babylon with 
Ishtar. From certain points of view the ancients regarded the moon 
also as Androgyne. The astrologers allot an influence to the moon over 
the several parts of a man, according to the several Zodiacal signs she 
traverses ; as well as a special influence produced by the house she occu- 
pies in a figure. 

The division of the Zodiac into the 28 mansions of the moon appears 
to be older than that into 12 signs: the Copts, Egyptians, Arabs, Per- 
sians and Hindoos used the division into 28 parts centuries ago, and the 
Chinese use it still. 

The Hermetists said the moon gave man an astral form, while 
Theosophy teaches that the Lunar Pitris were the creators of our human 
bodies and lower principles. (See Secret Doctrine I. 386.) [w.w.w.] 

Horiah, Mount. The site of King Solomon's first temple at Jerusalem 
according to tradition. It is to that mount that Abraham journeyed to 
offer Isaac in sacrifice. 

Horya (Sk,), One of the royal Buddhist houses of Magadha ; to 
which belonged Chandragupta and Asoka his grandson ; also the name 
of a Rajpoot tribe. 

Mot (Phcen,), The same as i7ms, mud, primordial chaos ; a word used 
in the Tyrrhenian Cosmogony (See " Suidas"). 

Hout or Mooth (Eg,), The mother goddess ; the primordial goddess, 
for ** all the gods are born from Mooth *', it is said. Astronomically, the 
moon. 

Mu (Senzar), The mystic word (or rather a portion of it) in 
Northern Buddhism. It means the ** destruction of temptation '* during 
the course of Yoga practice. 

Hudra (Sk,), Called the mystic seal. A system of occult signs made 
with the fingers. These signs imitate ancient Sanskrit characters of 
magic efficacy. First used in the Northern Buddhist Yogacharya School, 



2ld THEOSOPHtCAL 

they were adopted later by the Hindu Tantrikas, but often misused by 
them for black magic purposes. 

Mukta and Mukti (Sk,), Liberation from sentient life ; one beatified 
or liberated ; a candidate for Moksha^ freedom from flesh and matter, or 
life on this earth. 

Hiilaprakriti (Sk,), The Parabrahmic root, the abstract deific 
feminine principle — undiffierentiated substance. Akasa. Literally, "the 
root of Nature *' (Prakriti) or Matter. 

Hulil (Chald.), A name of the Chaldean Bel. 

Muluk-Taoos (Arab.), From Maluh, ** Ruler", a later form of Moloch, 
Melek, Malayak and Malachim, ** messengers ", angels. It is the Deity 
worshipped by the Yezidis, a sect in Persia, kindly called by Christian 
theology " devil worshippers ", under the form of a peacock. The Lord 
** Peacock " is not Satan, nor is it the devil ; for it is simply the symbol 
of the hundred eyed Wisdom ; the bird of Saraswati, goddess of Wisdom ; 
of Karttikeya the Kumara, the Virgin celibate of the Mysteries of Juno, 
and all the gods and goddesses connected with the secret learning. 

Mummy. The name for human bodies embalmed and preserved 
according to the ancient Egyptian method. The process of mummifica- 
tion is a rite of extreme antiquity in the land of the Pharaohs, and was 
considered as one of the most sacred ceremonies. It was, moreover, a 
process showing considerable learning in chemistry and surgery. 
Mummies 5,000 years old and more, reappear among us as preserved 
and fresh as when they first came from the hands of the Parashistes. 

Mumukshatwa (Sk,), Desire for liberation (from reincarnation and 
thraldom of matter). 

Hundakya Upanishad (Sk,), Lit,, the " Mundaka esoteric doctrine ", 
a work of high antiquity. It has been translated by Raja Rammohun 
Roy. 

Mundane Egg or Tree, or any other such symbolical object in the 
world Mythologies. Meru is a ** Mundane Mountain " ; the Bodhi Tree, 
or Ficus religiosa, is the Mundane Tree of the Buddhists ; just as the 
Yggdrasil is the ^^ Mundane Tree" of the Scandinavians or Norsemen. 

Munis (Sk,). Saints, or Sages. 

Mur&ri (Sk,), An epithet of Krishna or Vishnu ; //Y., the enemy of 
Mura — an A sura. ' 

Mfirti (Sk,), A form, or a sign, or again a face, e.g,, ** Trimdrti ", the 
** three Faces " or Images. 

Murttimat (Sk,), Something inherent or incarnate in something else 
and inseparable from it ; like wetness in water, which is coexistent and 
coeval with it. Used of some attributes of Brahmd and other gods. 



CiLOSSARY ilg 

Muspel (Scand.). A giant in the Edda, the Fire-god, and the father 
of the Flames. It was these evil sons of the good Muspel who after 
threatening evil in Glowheim (Muspelheim) finally gathered into a 
formidable army, and fought the ** Last Battle *' on the field of Wigred. 
Muspel is rendered as "World (or Mundane) Fire". The conception 
Dark Surtur (black smoke) out of which flash tongues of flame, connects 
Muspel with the Hindu Agni. 

Hutham or Mattam, (Sk,), Temples in India with cloisters and 
monasteries for regular ascetics and scholars. 

Myalba (Tib.), In the Esoteric philosophy of Northern Buddhism, 
the name of our Earth, called Hell for those who reincarnate in it for 
punishment. Exoterically, Myalba is translated a Hell. 

Hystagogy (Gr,), The doctrines or interpretations of the sacred 
mysteries. 

Mysterium Magnum (Lat.). ** The great Mystery *', a term used in 
Alchemy in connection with the fabrication of the ** Philosopher's 
Stone " and the " EHxir of Life ". 

Mysteries. Greek teletai, or finishings, celebrations of initiation or the 
Mysteries. They were observances, generally kept secret from the profane 
and uninitiated, in which were taught by dramatic representation and 
other methods, the origin of things, the nature of the human spirit, its 
relation to the body, and the method of its purification and restoration 
to higher life. Physical science, medicine, the laws of music, divination, 
were all taught in the same manner. The Hippocratic oath was but a 
mystic obligation. Hippocrates was a priest of Asklepios, some of 
whose writings chanced to become public. But the Asklepiades were 
initiates of the ^sculapian serpent-worship, as the Bacchantes were of 
the Dionysia ; and both rites were eventually incorporated with the 
Eleusinia. The Sacred Mysteries were enacted in the ancient Temples 
by the initiated Hierophants for the benefit and instruction of the 
candidates. The most solemn and occult Mysteries were certainly those 
which were performed in Egypt by '* the band of secret -keepers '*, as 
Mr. Bonwick calls the Hierophants. Maurice describes their nature 
very graphically in a few lines. Speaking of the Mysteries performed 
in Philae (the Nile-island), he says that '* it was in these gloomy caverns 
that the grand and mystic arcana of the goddess (Isis) were unfolded to 
the adoring aspirant, while the solemn hymn of initiation resounded 
through the long extent of these stony recesses '*. The word "mysteries " 
is derived from the Greek mud, ** to close the mouth ", and every symbol 
connected with them had a hidden meaning. As Plato and many other 
sages of antiquity affirm, the Mysteries were highly religious, moral 
and beneficent as a school of ethics. The Grecian mysteries, those of 



^20 TheosophicaL 

Ceres and Bacchus, were only imitations of the Egyptian ; and the 
author of Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought, informs us that our own 
** word chapel or capella is said to be the Caph-El or college of £/, the 
Solar divinity*'. The well-known Kahiri are associated with the 
Mysteries. In short, the Mysteries were in every country a series of 
dramatic performances, in wliich the mysteries of cosmogony and 
nature, in general, were personified by the priests and neophytes, who 
enacted the part of various gods and goddesses, repeating supposed 
scenes (allegories) from their respective lives. These were explained in 
their hidden meaning to the candidates for initiation, and incorporated 
into philosophical doctrines. 

Mystery Language. The sacerdotal secret jargon employed by the 
initiated priests, and used only when discussing sacred things. Every 
nation had its own ** mystery " tongue, unknown save to those admitted 
to the Mysteries. 

Mystes (Gr,). In antiquity, the name of the new Initiates ; now that 
of Roman Cardinals, who having borrowed all their other rites and 
dogmas from Aryan, Egyptian and Hellenic ** heathen *', have helped 
themselves also to the /xvo-ts of the neophytes. They have to keep their 
eyes and jnouth shut on their consecration, and are, therefore, called Mysta. 

Hystioa Yannus lacchi. Commonly translated the mystic Fan : but 
in an ancient terra-cotta in the British Museum the fan is a Basket such 
as the Ancients' Mysteries displayed with mystic contents : Inman says 
with emblematic testes, [w.w.w.] 



GLOSSARY 221 



JN . — The 14th letter in both the English and the Hebrew alphabets. 
In the latter tongue the N is called Nun, and signifies a fish. It is the 
symbol of the female principle or the womb. Its numerical value is 50 
in the Kabalistic system, but the Peripatetics made it equivalent to 900, 
and with a stroke over it (900) 9,000. With the Hebrews, however, the 
Jinal Nun was 700. 

Naaseni. The Christian Gnostic sect, called Naasenians, or serpent 
worshippers, who considered the constellation of the Dragon as the 
symbol of their Logos or Christ. 

Nabatheans. A sect almost identical in their beliefs with the 
Nazarenes and Sabeans, who had more reverence for John the 
"Baptist than for Jesus. Maimonides identifies them with the astrolaters. 
. . . " Respecting the beliefs of the Sabeans ", he says, ** the most 
famous is the book, The agriculiun of the Nabatheans ". And we know 
that the Ebionites, the first of whom were the friends and relatives of 
Jesus, according to tradition, in other words, the earliest and first 
Christians, ** were the direct followers and disciples of the Nazarene 
sect ", according to Epiphanius and Theodoret (See the Contra Ebionites 
of Epiphanius, and also ** Galileans" and ** Nazarenes"). 

Nabhi (Sk.). The father of Bharata, who gave his name to Bhdrata 
Varsha (land) or India. 

Nabia (Heb.), Seership, soothsaying. This oldest and most respected 
of mystic phenomena is the name given to prophecy in the Bible^ 
and is correctly included among the spiritual powers, such as divination, 
clairvoyant visions, trance-conditions, and oracles. But while en- 
chanters, diviners, and even astrologers are strictly condemned in the 
Mosaic books, prophecy, seership, and nabia appear as the special gifts 
of heaven. In early ages they were all termed Epoptai (Seers), the Greek 
word for Initiates; they were also designated Nebim, "the plural of 
Nebo, the Babylonian god of wisdom." The Kabalist distinguishes 
between the seer and the magician ; one is passive, the other active ; 
Nebirahy is one who looks into futurity and a clairvoyant ; Nebi-poel, he 
who possesses magic powers. We notice that Elijah and Apollonius 
resorted to the same means to isolate themselves from the disturbing 
influences of the outer world, viz,, wrapping their heads entirely in a 
woollen mantle, from its being an electric non-conductor we must 
suppose. 



222 THEOSOPHICAL 

Nabu (Chald,). Nebii or Nebo, generally ; the Chaldean god of Secret 
Wisdom, from which name the Biblical, Hebrew term Nabiitn (prophets) 
was derived. This son of Anu and Ishtar was worshipped chiefly at 
Borsippa ; but he had also his temple at Babylon, above that of Bel, 
devoted to the seven planets. (See " Nazarenes" and " Nebo".) 

Naga (Sk.), Literally ** Serpent ". The name in the Indian Pan- 
theon of the Serpent or Dragon Spirits, and of the inhabitants of Pitila, 
hell. But as Patala means the antipodes^ and was the name given to 
America by the ancients, who knew and visited that continent before 
Europe had ever heard of it, the term is probably akin to the Mexican 
Nagals the (now) sorcerers and medicine men. The Nagas are the 
Burmese Nats, serpent-gods, or ** dragon demons*'. In Esotericism, 
however, and as already stated, this is a nick-name for the " wise men " 
or adepts. In China and Tibet, the ** Dragons " are regarded as the 
titulary deities of the world, and of various spots on the earth, and the 
word is explained as meaning adepts, yogis, and narjols. The term has 
simply reference to their great knowledge and wisdom. This is also- 
proven in the ancient Sutras and Buddha's biographies. The Ndga is 
ever a wise man, endowed with extraordinary magic powers, in South 
and Central America as in India, in Chaldea as also in ancient Egypt. 
In China the *' worship" of the Nagas was widespread, and it has become 
still more pronounced since Nagarjuna (the ** great Naga ", the "great 
adept " literally), the fourteenth Buddhist patriarch, visited China. The 
"Nagas" are regarded by the Celestials as "the tutelary Spirits or 
gods of the five regions or the four points of the compass and the*centre, 
as the guardians of the five lakes and four oceans " (Eitel). This, traced 
to its origin and translated esoterically, means that the five continents 
and their five root-races had always been under the guardianship of 
" terrestrial deities ", t\c., Wise Adepts. The tradition that Nagas 
washed Gautama Buddha at his birth, protected him and guarded the 
relics of his body when dead, points again to the Nagas being only wise 
men, Arhats, and no monsters or Dragons. This is also corroborated 
by the innumerable stories of the conversion of Nagas to Buddhism. 
The Naga of a lake in a forest near Rajagriha and many other 
" Dragons" were thus converted by Buddha to the good Law. 

Nagadwipa ("5/?.^. Lit., "the island of the Dragons"; one of the 
Seven Divisions of Bharatavarsha, or modern India, according to the 
Pur anas. No proofs remain as to who were the Nagas (a historical 
people however), the favourite theory being thai they were a Scythic 
race. But there is no proof of this. When the Brahmans invaded 
India they " found a race of wise men, half-gods, half-demons ", says the 
legend, men who were the teachers of other races and became likewise 



GLOSSARY 223 

the instructors of the Hindus and the Brahmans themselves. Nagpur is 
justly believed to be the surviving relic of Nagadwipa. Now Nagpur is 
virtually in Rajputana, near Oodeypore, Ajmere, etc. And is it not well 
known that there was a time when Brahmans went to learn Secret Wis- 
dom from the Rajputs ? Moreover a tradition states that Apollonius of 
Tyana was instructed in magic by the Ndgas of Kashmere. 

Nagal. The title of the chief Sorcerer or " medicine man " of some 
tribes of Mexican Indians. These keep always a daimon or god, in the 
shape of a serpent — and sometimes some other sacred animal — who is 
said to inspire them. 

N&garfijas (Sk.), The usual name given to all the supposed ** guardian 
Spirits" of lakes and rivers, meaning literally " Dragon Kings ". All of 
these are shown in the Buddhist chronicles as having been converted to 
the Buddhist monastic life : i,e,y as becoming Arhats from the Yogis that 
they were before. 

N&g&l*juna (Sk,). An Arhat, a hermit (a native of Western India) 
converted to Buddhism by Kapimala and the fourteenth Patriarch, and 
now regarded as a Bodhisattva-Nirmanakaya. He was famous for his 
dialectical subtlety in metaphysical arguments ; and was the first teacher 
of the Amitibha doctrine and a representative of the Mahayina School. 
Viewed as the greatest philosopher of the Buddhists, he was referred to 
as ** one of the four suns which -illumine the world '*. He was born 
223 B.C., and going to China after his conversion converted in his turn 
the whole country to Buddhism. 

Na^on Wat (Siam.). Imposing ruins in the province of Siamrap 
(Eastern Siam), if ruins they may be called. An abandoned edifice of 
most gigantic dimensions, which, together with the great temple of 
Angkortham, are the best preserved relics of the past in all Asia. After 
the Pyramids this is the most occult edifice in the whole world. Of an 
oblong form, it is 796 feet in length and 588 in width, entirely built of 
stone, the roof included, but without ceftunt like the pyramids of Ghizeh, 
the stones fitting so closely that the joints are even now hardly discerni- 
ble. It has a central pagoda 250 feet in height from the first floor, and 
four smaller pagodas at the four corners, about 175 feet each. In the 
words of a traveller, (The Land of the White Elephant, Frank Vincent, 
p. 209) : ** in style and beauty of architecture, solidity of construction, 
and magnificent and elaborate carving and sculpture, the great Nagkon 
Wat has no superior, certainly no rival, standing at the present day." 
{See his Unv,, Vol. I. pp. 561-566.) 

Nahash (Heb,), " The Deprived " ; the Evil one or the Serpent, 
jiccording to the Western Kabalists, 



224 THEOSOPHICAL 

Nahbkoon (Kg,). The god who unites the "doubles", a mystical 
term referring to the human disembodied ** principles ". 

Naimittika (Sk,J. Occasional, or incidental ; used of one of the four 
kinds of Pralayas (See ** Pralaya "). 

Nain (Scaftd.). The ** Dwarf of Death '*. 

Hajo (Hind.), Witch ; a sorceress. 

Nakshatra (Sk.), Lunar asterisms. 

Namah (Sk.), In Pali Nanto. The first word of a daily invocation 
among Huddhists, meaning ** I humbly trust, or adore, or acknowledge" 
the Lord ; as: ** Namo tasso Bhagavato Arahato" etc., addressed to 
Lord Buddha. The priests are called ** Masters of Namah" — both 
Buddhist and Taoist, because this word is used in liturgy and prayers, 
in the invocation of the Triratna (q,v.), and with a slight change in the 
occult incantations to the Bodhisvattvas and Nirmdnakdyas. 

Nanda (Sk.). One of the Kings of Magadha (whose dynasty was 
overthrown by Chandragupta q.v.). 

Nandi (Sk.). The sacred white bull of Siva and his Vdhan (Vehicle). 

Nanna (Scand,). The beautiful bride of Baldur, who fought with the 
blind Ilodur (** he who rules over darkness ") and received his death from 
the latter by magic art. Baldur is the personification of Day, Hodur 
of Night, and the lovely Nanna of Dawn. 

Nannak (Chald.), also Nanar and Sin. A name of the moon ; said to 
be the son of Mulil, the older Bel and the Sun, in the later mythology. 
In the earliest, the Moon is far older than the Sun. 

Nara (Sk.). ** Man ", the original, eternal man. 

N&r& (Sk.). The waters of Space, or the Great Deep, whence the 
name of Nanlyana or Vishnu. 

Nara Sinha (Sk.). Lit., ** Man-lion " ; an Avatar of Vishnu. 

N&rada (Sk.). One of the Seven great Rishis, a Son of Brahm^. This 
"Progenitor" is one of the most mysterious personages in the Brah- 
manical sacred symbology. Esoterically Narada is the Ruler of events 
during various Karmic cycles, and the personification, in a certain sense, 
of the great human cycle ; a Dhyan Chohan. He plays a great part in 
Brahmanism, which ascribes to him some of the most occult hymns in the 
Rig Veda, in which sacred work he is described as "of the Kanwa 
family". He is called Deva-Brahma, but as such has a distinct character 
from the one he assumes on earth — or Patala. Daksha cursed him for 
his interference with his 5,000 and 10,000 sons, whom he persuaded to 
remain Yogins and celibates, to be reborn time after time on this earth 
(Mahtibhdrata). But this is an allegory. He was the inventor of the 



GLOSSARY 225 

Vina, a kind of lute, and a great ** lawgiver". The story is too long to 
be given here. 

N§J*aka (Sk.), In the popular conception, a hell, a " prison under 
earth". The hot and cold hells, each eight in number, are simply 
emblems of the globes of our septenary chain, with the addition of the 
** eighth sphere " supposed to be located in the moon. This is a trans- 
parent blind J as these ** hells " are called vivifying hells because, as 
explained, any being dying in one is immediately born in the second, 
then in the third, and so on ; life lasting in each 500 years (a blind on the 
number of cycles and reincarnations). As these hells constitute one of 
the six gdti (conditions of sentient existence), and as people are said to 
be reborn in one or the other according to their Karmic merits or de- 
merits, the blind becomes self-evident. Moreover, these Narakas are 
rather purgatories than hells, since release from each is possible through 
the prayers and intercessions of priests for a consideration, just as in the 
Roman Catholic Church, which seems to have copied the Chinese 
ritualism in this pretty closely. As said before, esoteric philosophy 
traces every hell to life on earth, in one or another form of sentient 
existence. 

H4r&yana (^5^.^. The ** mover on the Waters "of space: a title of 
Vishnu, in his aspect of the Holy Spirit, moving on the Waters of 
Creation. (See Mann, Book II.) In esoteric symbology it stands for 
the primeval manifestation of the life-principle, spreading in infinite 
Space. 

Nargal (Chald.), The Chaldean and Assyrian chiefs of the Magi (Rah 
Mag). 

Narjol (Tib.), A Saint ; a glorified Adept. 

Naros or Ncros (Heh.). A cycle, which the Orientalists describe as 
consisting of 600 years. But what years ? There were three kinds of 
Neros : the greater, the middle and the less. It is the latter cycle only 
which was of 600 years. (Sec ** Neros ".) 

N&stika (Sk,). Atheist, or rather he who does not worship or recog- 
nize the gods and idols. 

N&th (Sk,). A Lord : used of gods and men ; a title added to the 
first name of men and things as Badrinath (lord of mountains), a famous 
place of pilgrimage ; Gopinath (lord of the shepherdesses), used of Krishna. 

Nava Nidhi (Sk.), Lit., ** the nine Jewels " ; a consummation of 
spiritual development, in mysticism. 

Nazar (Heb.). One "set apart"; a temporary monastic class of 
celibates spoken of in the Old Testament, who married not, nor did they 
use wine during the time of their vow, and who wore their hair long, 

P 



226 THEOSOPHICAL 

cutting it only at their initiation. Paul must have belonged to this class 
of Initiates, for he himself tells the Galatians (i. 15) that he was separated 
or ** set apart " from the moment of his birth ; and that he had his hair 
cut at Cenchrea, because **he had a vow" {Acts xviii. 18), i.f., had been 
initiated as a Nazar ; after which he became a ** master-builder " 
(i Corinth, iii. 10). Joseph is styled a Nazar {Gen. xlix. 26). Samson 
and Samuel were also Xazars, and many more. 

Nazarenes (Ileb.J. The same as the St. John Christians; called the 
Menda.*ans, or Sabeans. Those Nazarenes who left Galilee several 
hundred years ago and settled in Syria, east of Mount Lebanon, call 
themselves also Galileans; though they designate Christ ** a false 
Messiah " and recognise only St. John the Baptist, whom they call the 
** Great Nazar ". The Nabatheans with very little difference adhered 
to the same Ixilief as the Nazarenes or the Sabeans. More than this — 
the Ebionites, whom Kenan shows as numbering among their sect all the 
surviving relatives of Jesus, seem to have been followers of the same 
sect if we have to believe St. Jerome, who writes : ** I received permis- 
sion from the Nazara^ans who at Beraea of Syria used this (Gosj>el 

of Matthew written in Hebrew) to translate it The Evangel which 

the Nazarenes and Ebionites use which recently I translated from Hebrew 
into Greek." (Hieronynius' Comment, to Matthew. Book H., chapter xii., 
and Hieronymus' De Viris Illtist, cap 3.) Now this supposed Evangel of 
Matthew, by whomsoever written, ** exhibited matter ", as Jerome com- 
plains (loc, cit,), ** not for edification but for destruction " (of Christianity). 
But the fact that the Ebionites, the genuine primitive Christians^ ** rejecting 
the rest of the ape stolic writings, made use only of this (Matthew's 
Hebrew) Gospel " (Adv, Har,, i. 26) is very suggestive. For, as 
Epiphanius declares, the Ebionites firmly believed, with the Nazarenes, 
that Jesus was but a man ** of the seed of a man " (Epiph. Contra 
Ebionites). Moreover we know from the Codex of the Nazarenes, of which 
the ** Evangel according to Matthew" formed a portion, that these Gnos- 
tics, whether Galilean, Nazarene or Gentile, call Jesus, in their hatred of 
astrolatry, in their Codex Naboo-Meschiha or '* Mercury ". (See ** Men- 
damans "). This does not shew much orthodox Christianity cither in the 
Nazarenes or the Ebionites ; but seems to prove on the contrary that the 
Christianity of the early centuries and modern Christian theology are 
two entirely opposite things. 

Nebban or Neibban (Chin,), The same as Nirvana, Nippang in 
Tibet. 

Nebo (Chald.J, The same as the Hindu Budha, son of Soma the 
Moon, and Mercury the planet. (See ** Nabu ".) 

Necromancy (Gr.j, The raising of the images of the dead, considered 



GLOSSARY 227 

in antiquity and by modern Occultists as a practice of black magic, 
lamblichus, Porphyry and other Theurgists have deprecated the practice, 
no less than did Moses, who condemned the ** witches *' of his day to 
death, the said witches being only Necromancers — as in the case of the 
Witch of Endor and Samuel. 

Nehaschim (Kah.), ** The serpent's works." It is a name given to 
the Astral Light, ** the great deceiving serpent " (Maya), during certain 
practical works of magic. (See Sec, Doc, II. 409.) 

Neilos (Gr,). The river Nile ; also a god. 

Neith (Eg*)* Neithes, The Queen of Heaven ; the moon-goddess in 
Egypt. She is variously called Nout, Nepte, Nut, (For symbolism, see 
" Nout ".) 

NeocOFOS (Gr,), With the Greeks the guardian of a Temple. 

Neophyte fGr.j. A novice; a postulant or candidate for the Mysteries. 
The methods of initiation varied. Neophytes had to pass in their trials 
through all the four elements, emerging in the fifth as glorified Initiates. 
Thus having passed through Fire (Deity), Water (Divine Spirit), Air 
(the Breath of God), and the Earth (Matter), they received a sacred mark, 
a tat and a tau, or a -f and a j • The latter was the monogram of the 
Cycle called the Naros, or Neros. As shown by Dr. E. V. Kenealy, in his 
Apocalypse^ the cross in symbolical language (one of the seven meanings) 
** 4- exhibits at the same time three primitive letters, of which the 
word LVX or Light is compounded. . . . The Initiates were marked 
with this sign, when they were admitted into the perfect mysteries. We 
constantly see the Tau and the Resh united thus p. Those two letters 

in the old Samaritan, as found on coins, stand, the first for 400, the 
second for 200 = 600. This is the staff of Osiris." Just so, but this 
does not prove that the Naros was a cycle of 600 years ; but simply that 
one more pagan symbol had been appropriated by the Church. (See 
" Naros" and ** Neros " and also " I. H. S.") 

Neo-platonism. Lit,, ** The new Platonism " or Platonic School. An 
eclectic pantheistic school of philosophy founded in Alexandria by 
Ammonius Saccas, of which his disciple Plotinus was the head 
(a.d. 189-270). It sought to reconcile Platonic teachings and the 
Aristotelean system with oriental Theosophy. Its chief occupation 
was pure spiritual philosophy, metaphysics and mysticism. Theurgy 
was introduced towards its later years. It was the ultimate effort 
of high intelligences to check the ever-increasing ignorant superstition 
and blind faith of the times ; the last product of Greek philosophy, which 
was finally crushed and put to death by brute force. 

Nephesh Chia (Kab.). Animal or living Soul, 



228 THEOSOPHICAL 

Nephesh (Heh,), Breath of life. Aninm, Mens^ Vita, Appetites. This 
term is used very loosely in the Bible. It generally means praHa " life " ; 
in the Kabbalah it is the animal passions and the animal Soul, [w.w.w.] 
Therefons as maintained intheosophical teachings, Nephesh is the synonym 
of the rrana-Kaniic Principle, or the vital animal Soul in man. 

[n. 1». B.] 

Nephilim (llcb,). Giants, Titans, the Fallen Ones. 

Nephtys (l^g-)- ^^^^ sister of Isis, philosophically only one of her 
aspects. As Osiris and Typhon are one under two aspects, so Isis and 
Nephtys are one and the same symbol of nature under its dual aspect. 
Thus, while Isis is the wife of Osiris, Nephtys is the wife of Typhon, the 
foe of Osiris and his slayer, although she weeps for him. She is often 
represented at the bier of the great Sun-god, having on her head a disk 
between the two horns of a crescent. She is the genius of the lower 
world, and Anubis, the Egyptian Pluto, is called her son. Plutarch has 
given a fair esoteric explanation of the two sisters. Thus he writes : 
** Nephtys designs that which is under the earth, and which one sees 
not (/.^., its disintegrating and reproducing power), and Isis that which 
is above earth, and which is visible (or physical nature). . . . The 
circle of the horizon which divides these two hemispheres and which is 
common to both, is Anubis." The identity of the two goddesses is shown 
in that Isis is also called the mother of Anubis. Thus the two are the 
Alpha and Omega of Nature. 

Nergal (Chald.), On the Assyrian tablets he is described as the 
" giant king of war, lord of the city of Cutha ". It is also the Hebrew 
name for the planet Mars, associated invariably w^ith ill-luck and danger. 
Nergal-Mars is the ** shedder of blood". In occult astrology it is less 
malefic than Saturn, but is more active in its associations with men and 
its influence on them. 

Neros (Heb.J, As shown by the late E. V. Kenealy this ** Naronic 
Cycle " was a mystery, a true ** secret of god ", to disclose which during the 
prevalence of the religious mysteries and the authority of the priests, 
meant death. The learned author seemed to take it for granted that 
the Neros was of 600 years duration, but he was mistaken. (See 
** Naros ".) Nor were the establishment of the Mysteries and the rites of 
Initiation due merely to the necessity of perpetuating the knowledge of 
the true meaning of the Naros and keeping this cycle secret from the 
profane ; for the Mysteries are as old as the present human race, and 
there were far more important secrets to veil than the figures of any cycle. 
(See ** Neophyte" and *» I. H. S.", also ** Naros ".) The mystery of 666, 
" the number of the great heart " so called, is far better represented by 
the Tau and the Resh than 600. 



GLOSSARY 229 

Nerthus (Old Sax,), The goddess of the earth, of love and beauty 
with the old Germans; the same as the Scandinavian Freya or Frigga. 
Tacitus mentions the great honours paid to Nerthus when her idol was 
carried on a car in triumph through several districts. 

Neshamah (Heb,). Soul, anima, afflatus. In the Kabbalah, as taught 
in the Rosicrucian order, one of the three highest essences of the Human 
Soul, corresponding to the Sephira Binah, [w.wAv.] 

Nesku or Nusku (Oiald,), Is described in the Assyrian tablets as the 
** holder of the golden sceptre, the lofty god '*. 

Netzach (Heb,), ** Victory ". The seventh of the Ten Sephiroth, a 
masculine active potency, [w.w.w.] » 

Nidana (Sk,), The 12 causes of existence, or a chain of causation, 
** a concatenation of cause and effect in the whole range of existence 
through 12 links ". This is the fundamental dogma of Buddhist thought, 
** the understanding of which solves the riddle of life, revealing the 
inanity of existence and preparing the mind for Nirvana'*. (Eitel's 
Sans, Chin, Did,) The 12 links stand thus in their enumeration, (i) 
Jdti, or birth, according to one of the four modes of entering the stream 
of life and reincarnation — or Chatur Yani (q,v,)y each mode placing the 
being born in one of the six Gdti (q,v,), (2) Jardinarana, or decrepitude 
and death, following the maturity of the Skandhas (q*v,), (3) Bftava, the 
Karmic agent which leads every new sentient being to be born in this or 
another mode of existence in the Trailokya and Gdti, (4) Updddna, the 
creative cause of Bhava which thus becomes the cause of Jati which is 
the effect ; and this creative cause is the clinging to life, (5) Trishnd^ love, 
whether pure or impure. (6) Veddna, or sensation ; perception by the 
senses, it is the 5th Skandha. (7) Sparsa, ' the sense of touch. (8) 
Chaddyatana^ the organs of sensation. (9) Ndmariipaj personality, i.f., a 
form with a name to it, the symbol of the unreality of material phenom- 
enal appearances. (10) Vijndna, the perfect knowledge of every perceptible 
thing and of all objects in their concatenation and unity. (11) Samskdra, 
action on the plane of illusion. [12) Avidyd^ lack of true perception, or 
ignorance. The Nidanas belonging to the most subtle and abstruse 
doctrines of the Eastern metaphysical system, it is impossible to go into 
the subject at any greater length. 

Nidhi (Sk,), A treasure. Nine treasures belonging to the god Kuvera 
— the Vedic Satan — each treasure being under the guardianship of a 
demon ; these are personified, and are the objects of worship of the 
Tantrikas. 

Nidhogg (Scand,). The ** Mundane " Serpent. 

Nidra (Sk,), Sleep. Also the female form of Brahma. 



230 THEOSOPhiCAL 

Niflheim (Scand.). The cold Hell, in the Edda. A place of eternal 
non -consciousness and inactivity. (See Secret Doctrine^ Vol. II., p. 245). 

Night of BFahm&. The period between the dissolution and the active 
life of the Universe which is called in contrast the ** Day of Brahm& ". 

Nilakantha (Sk,), A name of Siva meaning ** blue throated ". This 
is said to have been the result of some poison administered to the 
god. 

Nile-Ood (Eg.), Represented by a wooden image of the river god 
receiving honours in gratitude for the bounties its waters afford the 
country. There was a ** celestial " Nile, called in the Ritual Nen-naau 
or ** primordial waters '*; and a terrestrial Nile, worshipped at Nilopolis 
and Hapimoo, The latter was represented as an androgynous being with 
a beard and breasts, and a fat blue face ; green limbs and reddish body. 
At the approach of the yearly inundation, the image was carried from 
one place to another in solemn procession. 

Nimbus (Lat,), The aureole around the heads of the Christ and 
Saints in Greek and Romish Churches is of Eastern origin. As every 
Orientalist knows, Buddha is described as having his head surrounded 
with shining glory six cubits in width ; and, as shown by Hardy (EasUm 
Monachism), "his principal disciples are represented by the native painters 
as having a similar mark of eminence ". In China, Tibet and Japan, the 
heads of the saints are always surrounded with a nimbus. 

Nimitta (Sk.). i. An interior illumination developed by the practice 
of meditation. 2. The efficient spiritual cause, as contrasted with 
Upaddna, the material cause, in Ved£lnta philosophy. See also Pradhdna 
in Sankhya philosophy. 

Nine. The ** Kabbalah of the Nine Chambers " is a form of secret 
writing in cipher, which originated with the Hebrew Rabbis, and has 
been used by several societies for purposes of concealment : notably some 
grades of the Freemasons have adopted it. A figure is drawn of two 
horizontal parallel lines and two vertical parallel lines across them, this 
process forms nine chambers, the centre one a simple square, the others 
being either two or three sided figures, these are allotted to the several 
letters in any order that is agreed upon. There is also a Kabbalistic 
attribution of the ten Sephiroth to these nine chambers, but this is not 
published, [w.w.w.] 

Nirguna (Sk,), Negative attribute ; unbound, or without Gunas 
(attributes), i,e,, that which is devoid of all qualities, the opposite of 
Saguna, that which has attributes (Scent Doctrine, II. 95), e.g., Para- 
brahmam is Nirguna; BrahmA, Saguna. Nirguna is a term which 
shows the impersonality of the thing spoken of. 



GLOSSARY 231 

Nirminak4ya (Sk.). Something entirely different in esoteric 
philosophy from the popular meaning attached to it, and from the fancies 
of the Orientalists. Some call the Nirmdnakdya body ** Nirvana with 
remains " (Schlagintweit, etc.) on the supposition, probably, that it is a 
kind of Nirvanic condition during which consciousness and form are 
retained. Others say that it is one of the Trikdya (three bodies), with 
the ** power of assuming any form of appearance in order to propagate 
Buddhism " (Eitel's idea) ; again, that ** it is the incarnate avatira 
of a deity " (ihid,)^ and so on. Occultism, on the other hand, says : 
that Nirminikaya, although meaning literally a transformed ** body **, 
is a state. The form is that of the adept or yogi who enters, or chooses, 
that post mortem condition in preference to the Dharmakaya or absolute 
Nirvinic state. He does this because the latter kdya separates him for 
ever from the world of form, conferring upon him a state of selfish bliss, 
in which no other living being can participate, the adept being thus 
precluded from 'the possibility of helping humanity, or even devas. As a 
Nirm^nakaya, however, the man leaves behind him only his physical 
body, and retains every other "principle" save the Kamic— for he has 
crushed this out for ever from his nature, during life, and it can never 
resurrect in his post mortem state. Thus, instead of going into selfish 
bliss, he chooses a life of self-sacrifice, an existence which ends only 
with the life-cycle, in order to be enabled to help mankind in an invisible 
yet most effective manner. (See The Voice of the Silence^ third treatise, 
"The Seven Portals".) Thus a Nirminakaya is not, as popularly 
believed, the body "in which a Buddha or a Bodhisattva appears 
on earth ", but verily one, who whether a Chutuktu or a Khuhilkhan, an 
adept or a yogi during life, has since become a member of that invisible 
Host which ever protects and watches over Humanity within Karniic 
limits. Mistaken often for a " Spirit ", a Deva, God himself, &c., a 
NirmanakAya is ever a protecting, compassionate, verily a guardian angel, 
to him who becomes worthy of his help. Whatever objection may be 
brought forward against this doctrine ; however much it is denied, 
because, forsooth, it has never been hitherto made public in Europe and 
therefore since it is unknown to Orientalists, it must needs be " a myth 
of modern invention " — no one will be bold enough to say that this idea 
of helping suffering mankind at the price of one's own almost interminable 
self-sacrifice, is not one of the grandest and noblest that was ever evolved 
from human brain. 

Nirmathya (Sk.). The sacred fire produced by the friction of two 
pieces of wood — the " fire " called Pavamdna in the Purdnas. The alle- 
gory contained therein is an occult teaching. 

Nirriti (Sk.). A goddess of Death and Decay. 



^3^ THEOSOPHICAL 

Nimkta (Sk.), An anga or limb, a division of the Vedas; a glossarial 
comment. 
Nimpadhi fSk.), Attributeless ; the negation of attributes. 

Nirv&na (Sk.). According to the Orientalists, the entire "blowing 
out ", like the flame of a candle, the utter extinction of existence. But 
in the esoteric explanations it is the state of absolute existence and abso- 
lute consciousness, into which the Ego of a man who has reached the 
highest degree of perfection and holiness during life goes, after the body 
dies, and occasionally, as in the case of Gautama Buddha and others, 
during life. (See " Nirvani ".) 

NiPYani (Sk.). One w-ho has attained Nirvina — an emancipated 
soul. That Nirviina means nothing of the kind asserted by Orientalists 
every scholar who has visited China, India and Japan is well aware. It 
is *' escape from misery" but only from that of matter, freedom from 
Klesha, or Kdma^ and the complete extinction of animal desires. If we 
are told that Ahidharma defines Nirvana ** as a state of absolute annihila- 
tion ", we concur, adding to the last word the qualification " of 
everything connected with matter or the physical world ", and 
this simply because the latter (as also all in it) is illusion, mdyd, S4kya- 
muni Buddha said in the last moments of his life that ** the spiritual body 
is immortal " (See Sans. Chin. Did.). As Mr. Eitel, the scholarly 
Sinologist, explains it : " The popular exoteric systems agree in defining 
Nirvana negatively as a state of absolute exemption from the circle of 
transmigration ; as a state of entire freedom from all forms of existence ; 
to begin with, freedom from all passion and exertion ; a state of indi£fer- 
ence to all sensibility'* — and he might have added "death of all 
compassion for the world of suffering ". And this is why the Bodhisattvas 
who prefer the Nirmanakilya to the Dharmakaya vesture, stand higher 
in the popular estimation than the Nirvanis. But the same scholar 
adds that : " Positively (and esoterically) they define Nirvdna as the 
highest state of spiritual bliss, as absolute immortality through absorption 
of the soul (spirit rather) into itself, but preserving individuality so that, e,g.^ 
Buddhas, after entering Nirvana, may reappear on earth ** — i,e.^ in the 
future Manvantara. 

Nishada (Sk.). (i) One of the seven qualities of sound — the one and 
sole attribute of Akasa; (2) the seventh note of the Hindu musical scale; 

(3) an outcast offspring of a Brahman and a Sudra mother ; 

(4) a range of mountains south of Meru — north of the Himalayas. 
Nissi (Chald.) One of the seven Chaldean gods. 

Niti (Sk.). Lit., Prudence, etl:ics. 

Nitya Pariyrita (Sk.). Lit., continuous extinction. 



GLOSSARY 233 

Nitya Pralaya (Sk.). Lit., " perpetual " Pralaya or dissolution. It is 
the constant and imperceptible changes undergone by the atoms 
which last as long as a Mahimanvantara, a whole age of Brahmi, 
which takes fifteen figures to sum up. A stage of chronic change and 
dissolution, the stages of growth and decay. It is the duration of ** Seven 
Eternities". (See Secret Doctrine I. 371, II. 69, 310.) There are four 
kinds of Pralayas, or states of changelessness. The Naimittika, when 
Brahma slumbers ; the Prakritika, a partial Pralaya of anything during 
Manvantara ; Atyantika, when man has identified himself with the One 
Absolute — a synonym of Nirvana ; and Nitya, for physical things 
especially, as a state of profound and dreamless sleep. 

Nitya Sarga (Sk,), The state of constant creation or evolution, as 
opposed to Nitya Pralaya — the state of perpetual incessant dissolution (or 
change of atoms) disintegration of molecules, hence change of forms. 

Nizip (Chald,). The ** Deluge Mountain " ; the Ararat of the 
Babylonians with ** Xisuthrus '* as Noah. 

Nixies. The water-sprites ; Undines. 

Niyashes (Mazd,), Parsi prayers. 

Nofir-hotpoo (Eg,). The same as the god Khonsoo, the lunar god of 
Thebes. Lit., ** he who is in absolute rest '*. Nofir-hotpoo is one of the 
three persons of the Egyptian trinity, composed of Amnion, Mooth, and 
their son Khonsoo or Nofir-hotpoo. 

Nogah (Chald.), Venus, the planet ; glittering splendour. 

Noo (Eg.). Primordial waters of space called ** Father- Mother " ; the 
**face of the deep" of the Bible; for above iV(?(? hovers the Breath of 
Knephy who is represented with the Mundane Egg in his mouth. 

Noom (Eg.). A celestial sculptor, in the Egyptian legends, who 
creates a beautiful girl whom he sends like another Pandora to Batoo (or 
** man "), whose happiness is thereafter destroyed. The " sculptor " or 
artist is the same as Jehovah, the architect of the world, and the girl is 
" Eve '\ 

Noon (Eg.), The celestial river which flows in Nooty the cosmic abyss 
or Noo, As all the gods have been generated in the river (the Gnostic 
Pleroma)y it is called "the Father-Mother of the gods". 

Noor Ilahee (Arab,), "The light of the Elohinr', literally. This 
light is believed by some Mussulmen to be transmitted to mortals 
** through a hundred prophet-leaders ". Divine knowledge ; the Light of 
the Secret Wisdom. 

Noot (Eg,), The heavenly abyss in the Ritual or the Book of the 
Dead. It is infinite space personified in the Vedas by Aditi, the 
goddess who, like Noon (q.v.) is the "mother of all the gods". 



^34 THEOSOPHlCAL 

Noma fScand. i. The tliree sister goddesses in the Edda^ who make 
known to men tlie de^rrees of Orlof^ or Fate. They are shown as coming 
out of the unknown distances enveloped in a dark veil to the Ash Yggdtasil 
(qA\), and ** sprinkle it daily with water from the Fountain of Urd, that 
it may not wither but remain green and fresh and strong " (Asgard and tki 
Gods). Their names are '* Urd ", the Past ; ** Werdandi ", the Present ; 
and ** Skuld ", the Future, ** which is either rich in hope or dark with 
tears". Thus they reveal the decrees of Fate **for out of the past and 
present the events and actions of the future are bom " (loc. cit,J, 

Notaricon (Kab.J. A division of the practical Kabbalah; treats of the 
formation of words from the initials or finals of the words in every 
sentence ; or conversely it forms a sentence of words whose initials or 
finals are those of some word 'w. w. w.J . 

Noumenon (Gr.J, The true essential nature of being as distinguished 
from the illusive objects of sense. 

Nous. (Or.). A Platonic term for the Higher Mind or Soul. It 
means Spirit as distinct from anmial Soul ^ps}'c he ; divine consciousness 
or mind in man : A\ms was the designation given to the Supreme deity 
(third logos) by Anaxagoras. Taken from Egypt where it was called 
Nout, it was adopted by the Gnostics for their first conscious iSon 
which, with the Occultists, is the third logos^ cosmically, and the third 
** principle " (from above) or manasj in man. (See ** Nout ".) 

Nout. (Gr,), In the Pantheon of the Egyptians it meant the ** One- 
only-One*', because they did not proceed in their popular or exoteric 
religion higlier than the third manifestation which radiates from the 
Unknown and the Unknowable, the first unmanifested and the second logoi 
in tiie esoteric philosophy of every nation. The Nous of Anaxagoras was 
the Mahat of the Hindu Brahma, the first manifested Deity — ** the Mind or 
Spirit self-potent"; this creative Principle being of course the primum 
fnobile of everytliing in the Universe — its Soul and Ideation. (See 
** Seven Principles " in man.) 

Number Nip. An Elf, tlie mighty King of the Riesengebirge, the 
most powerful of the genii in Scandinavian and German folk-lore. 

Nuns. There were nuns in ancient Egypt as well as in Peru and old 
Pagan Rome. They were the ** virgin brides " of their respective (Solar) 
gods. Says Herodotus, ** The brides of Amnion are excluded from all 
intercourse with men", they are ** the brides of Heaven"; and virtually 
they became dead to the world, just as they are now. In Peru they were 
*' Pure Virgins of the Sun", and the Pallakists of Ammon-Ra are referred 
to in some inscriptions as the ** divine spouses". ** The sister of Oun- 
nefer, the chief prophet of Osiris, during the reign of Rameses II.," is 
described as " Taia, Lady Abbess of Nuns " (Mariette Bey). 



GLOSSARY ^35 

Nnntis (Lat,), The ** Sun-Wolf", a name of the planet Mercury. He 
is the Sun's attendant, Solaris luminis particeps, (See Secret Doct. 
II. 28.) 

Ny&ya (Sk,). One of the six Darshanas or schools of Philosophy in 
India ; a system of Hindu logic founded by the Rishi Gautama. 

Nyima (Tib ), The Sun — astrologically. 

Nyingpo (Tib,), The same as Alaya, ** the World Soul"; also called 
Tsang, 



f 



236 THEOSOPHICAL 



O. 

\J» — Tlic fifteenth letter and fourth vowel in the English alphabet. It 
has no equivalent in Hebrew, whose alphabet with one exception is 
vowclless. As a numeral, it signified with the ancients 11 ; and with a 
dash on it 11,000. With other ancient people also, it was a very 
sacred letter. In the Dcvanagari, or the characters of the gods, its 
significance is varied, but there is no space to give instances. 

Oak, sacred. With the Druids the oak was a most holy tree, and so 
also with the ancient Greeks, if we can believe Pherecydes and his 
cosmogony, who tells us of the sacred oak **in whose luxuriant branches 
a serpent (/.^., wisdom) dwelleth, and cannot be dislodged". Every nation 
had its own sacred trees, pre-eminently the Hindus. 

Oannes. (Gr,), Musarus Cannes, the Annedotus, known in the 
Chaldean ** legends ", transmitted through Berosus and other ancient 
writers, as y>^a/^ or Dagon, the ** man-fish ". Oannes came to the early 
Babylonians as a reformer and an instructor. Appearing from the 
Erythraean Sea, he brought to them civilisation, letters and sciences, 
law, astronomy and rehgion, teaching them agriculture, geometry and the 
arts in general. There were Anncdoti who came after him, five in 
number (our race being the fijth) — **all like Oannes in form and teach- 
ing the same "; but Musarus Oannes was the first to appear, and this he 
did during the reign of Ammenon, the third of the ten antediluvian 
Kings whose dynasty ended with Xisuthrus, the Chaldean Noah (See 
** Xisuthrus"). Oannes was ** an animal endowed with reason . . . 
wh(;se body was that of a lish, but who had a human head under the fish's 
with feet also belouy similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish's tail, and 
ufhose voice and language too were articulate and human " (Polyhistor and 
Apoliodorus). This gives the key to the allegory. It points out Oannes, 
as a man and a *' priest ", an Initiate. Layard showed long ago (See 
iXineveh) that the ** fish's head '* was simply a head gear, the mitre worn 
by priests and gods, made in the form of a fish's head, and which in a 
very Httlc modilied form is what we see even now on the heads of high 
Lamas and Romish Bisliops. Osiris had such a mitre. The fish's tail is 
simply the train of a long stiff mantle as depicted on some Assyrian 
tablets, the form being seen reproduced in the sacerdotal gold cloth 
garment worn during service by the modern Greek priests. This 
allegory of Oannes, the Annedotus, reminds us of the " Dragon *' and 



GLOSSARY 237 

** Snake- Kings "; the Ndgas who in Buddhist legends instruct people 
in wisdom on lakes and rivers, and end by becoming converts to the 
good Law and Arhats. The meaning is evident. The **fish" is an old 
and very suggestive symbol in the Mystery-language, as is also "water". 
£a or Hea w^as the god of the sea and Wisdom, and the sea serpent was 
one of his emblems, his priests being ** serpents " or Initiates. Thus 
one sees why Occultism places Oannes and the other Annedoti in the 
group of those ancient ** adepts " who were called ** marine *' or ** water 
dragons " — Ndgas, Water typified their human origin (as it is a 
symbol of earth and matter and also of purification), in distinction 
to the ** fire Nagas " or the immaterial, Spiritual Beings, whether 
celestial Bodhisattvas or Planetary Dhyanis, also regarded as the in- 
structors of mankind. The hidden meaning becomes clear to the 
Occultist, once he is told that ** this being (Oannes) was accustomed to 
pass the day among men, teaching ; and when the Sun had set, he 
retired again into the sea, passing the night in the deep, "/or he was 
amphibious ", i.e., he belonged to two planes : the spiritual and the 
physical. For the Greek word amphihios means simply " life on two 
planes ", from amphi, " on both sides ", and bios^ ** life '*. The word was 
often applied in antiquity to those men who, though still wearing a 
human form, had made themselves almost divine through knowledge, 
and lived* as much in the spiritual supersensuous regions as on earth. 
Oannes is dimly reflected in Jonah, and even in John, the Precursor, 
both connected with Fish and Water. 

Ob (Heb.). The astral light — or rather, its pernicious evil currents — 
was personified by the Jews as a Spirit, the Spirit of Ob. With then], 
any one who dealt with spirits and necromancy was said to be possessed 
by the Spirit of Ob. 

Obeah. Sorcerers and sorceresses of Africa and the W^est Indies. A 
sect of black magicians, snake-charmers, enchanters, &c. 

Occult Sciences. The science of the secrets of nature — physical and 
psychic, mental and spiritual ; called Hermetic and Esoteric Sciences, 
In the West, the Kabbalah may be named ; in the East, mysticism, magic, 
and Yoga philosophy, which latter is often referred to by the Chelas in 
India as the seventh ** Darshana " (school of philosophy), there being only 
six Darshanas in India known to the world of the profane. These 
sciences are, and have been for ages, hidden from the vulgar for the 
very good reason that they would never be appreciated by the selfish 
educated classes, nor understood by the uneducated ; whilst the former 
might misuse them for their own profit, and thus turn the divine science 
into black magic. It is often brought forward as an accusation against the 
Esoteric philosophy and the Kabbalah, that their literature is full of **a 



238 THEOSOPHICAL 

barbarous and meaningless jargon " unintelligible to the ordinary mind. 
But do not exact Sciences — medicine, physiology, chemistry, and the 
rest — do the same ? Do not official Scientists equally veil their facts 
and discoveries with a newly coined and most barbarous Graeco-I^atin 
terminology ? As justly remarked by our late brother, Kenneth 
Mackenzie — " To juggle thus with words, when the facts are so simple, 
is the art of the Scientists of the present time, in striking contra^st to 
those of the XVIIth century, who called spades spades, and not * agri- 
cultural implements'.** Moreover, whilst their facts would be as 
simple and as comprehensible if rendered in ordinary language, the facts 
of Occult Science are of so abstruse a nature, that in most cases no 
words exist in European languages to express them ; in addition to 
which our "jargon'* is a double necessity — (a) for the purpose of 
describing clearly these facts to him who is versed in the Occult 
terminology ; and (b) to conceal them from the profane. 

OooultlBt. One who studies the various branches of occult science. 
The term is used by the French Kabbalists (See Eliphas L6vi*s works). 
Occultism embraces the whole range of psychological, physiological, 
cosmical, physical, and spiritual phenomena. From the word occultus 
hidden or secret. It therefore applies to the study of the Kabbalah^ astrology, 
alchemy, and all arcane sciences. 

Od (Gf»), From odos^ "passage**, or passing of that force which is 
developed by various minor forces or agencies such as magnets, chemical 
or vital action, heat, light, &c. It is also called ** odic ** and " odylic 
force**, and was regarded by Reichenbach and his followers as an 
independent entitative force — which it certainly is — stored in man as it 
is in Nature. 

Odaoon. The fifth Annedotus, or Dagon (See " Oannes **) who 
appeared during the reign of Euedoreschus from Pentebiblon, also " from 
the Erythraean Sea like the former, having the same complicated form 
between a fish and a man ** (Apollodorus^ Cory p. 30). 

Odem or Adm (Heb.). A stone (the cornelian) on the breast-plate of the 
Jewish High Priest. It is of red colour and possesses a great medicinal 
power. 

Odin (Scand.). The god of battles, the old German Sabbaoth, the 
same as the Scandinavian Wodan. He is the great hero in the Edda and 
one of the creators of man. Roman antiquity regarded him as one with 
Hermes or Mercury (Budha), and modern Orientalism (Sir W. Jones) 
accordingly confused him with Buddha. In the Pantheon of the Norse- 
men, he is the ** father of the gods ** and divine wisdom, and as such he 
is of course Hermes or the creative wi$dom. Odin or Wodan in creating 



GLOSSARY 239 

the first man from trees — the Ask (ash) and Embla (the alder) — 
endowed them with Hfe and soul, Honir with intellect, and Lodur with 
form and colour. 

Odur (Scand.J. The human husband of the goddess Freya, a scion of 
divine ancestry in the Northern mythology. 

Oeaihn, or Oeaihwu. The manner of pronunciation depends on the 
accent. This is an esoteric term for the six in one or the mystic seven. 
The occult name for the ** seven vowelled " ever-present manifestation of 
the Universal Principle. 

O^doad (Gr,), The tetrad or ** quaternary " reflecting itself produced 
the ogdoad, the ** eight *', according to the Marcosian Gnostics. The 
eight great gods were called the " sacred Ogdoad ". 

O^am (Celtic). A mystery language belonging to the early Celtic 
races, and used by the Druids. One form of this language consisted in 
the association of the leaves of certain trees with the letters, this was 
called Beth-lttis-nion Oghamj and to form words and sentences the leaves 
were strung on a cord in the proper order. Godfrey Higgins suggests 
that to complete the mystification certain other leaves which meant 
nothing were interspersed, [w.w.w.] 

0^ or Hler (Scand), A chief of the giants in the Edda and the ally 
of the gods. The highest of the Water-gods, and the same as the Greek 
Okeanos. 

O^mius. The god of wisdom and eloquence of the Druids, hence 
Hermes in a sense. 

O^^a (Gr.), An ancient submerged island known as the isle of 
Calypso, and identified by some with Atlantis. This is in a certain sense 
correct. But then what portion of Atlantis, since the latter was a 
continent rather than an " enormous " island ! 

Oitzoe (Pers.), The invisible goddess whose voice spoke through the 
rocks, and whom, according to Pliny, the Magi had to consult for the 
election of their kings. 

Okhal (Arab.), The ** High '* priest of the Druzes, an Initiator into 
their mysteries. 

Okhema (Gr.), A Platonic term meaning ** vehicle " or body. 

Okuthor (Scand,). The same as Thor, the ** thunder god '\ 

OlympnB (Gr.). A mount in Greece, the abode of the gods according 
to Homer and Hesiod. 

Om or Aum (Sk.). A mystic syllable, the most solemn of all words in 
India. It is " an invocation, a benediction, an affirmation and a 
promise '*; and it is so sacred, as to be indeed the word at low breath of 
occult, primitive masonry. No pne must be near when the syllable i§ 



240 



THKOSOPHICAL 



pronounced for a purpose. This word is usually placed at the beginning 
of sacred Scriptures, and is prefixed to prayers. It is a compound of three 
lettcrsa,w,w, which, in the popular belief, arc typical of the three Vedas,also 
of threcf^nuls— A(Af^mi) Y (Vanina) and H (Maruts)or Fire, Water and Air. 
In esoteric pliilosophy those are the three sacred fires, or the " tnple 
fire " in the Universe and Man, besides many other things. Occultly, this 
*' triple fire " represents the highest Tetraktys also, as it is typified by 
the Agni named Abhimanin and his transformation into his three 
sons, Pavana, Pavamana and Suchi, "who drinks up water", i.r., 
destroys material desires. This monosyllable is called Udgitta, and is 
sacred with both Brahmins and Buddhists. 

Omito-Fo (Chin,), The name of Amita-Buddha, in China. 

Omkara (Sk,), The same as Aum or Om. It is also the name of 
one of the twelve lingams^ that was represented by a secret and most 
sacred shrine at Ujjain — no longer existing, since the time of Buddhism. 

Omoroka (Chald,), The ** sea " and the woman who personifies it 
according to l^erosus, or rather of Apollodorus. As the divine water, 
however, Omoroka is the reflection of Wisdom from on high. 

Oneoh (Heb,), The Phcenix, so named after Enoch or Phenoch. For 
Enoch (also Khenoch) means literally the initiator and instructor^ hence 
the Hierophant who reveals the last mystery. The bird Phoenix is always 
associated with a tree, the mystical Ahahel of the Koran, XheTreeof 
Initiation or of knowledge. 

Onnofre or Oun-nofre (Eg,), The King of the land of the Dead, the 
Underworld, and in this capacity the same as Osiris, ** who resides in 
Amenti at Oun-nefer, king of eternity, great god manifested in the 
celestial abyss". (A hymn of the XlXth dynasty.) (See also "Osiris".) 

Ophanim (Ilch,), More correctly written Auphanim. The " wheels" 
seen by Ezekiel and by John in tlie Revelation — world-spheres {Secret 
Doctrine I., 92.) Tlie symbol of the Cherubs or Karoubs (the Assyrian 
Sphinxes). As these beings are represented in the Zodiac by Taurus, 
Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, or the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and Man, 
the occult meaning of these creatures being placed in company of the 
four Evangelists becomes evident. In the Kabbalah they are a group 
of beings allotted to the Sephira Chokmah, Wisdom. 

Ophis (Gr,), The same as Chnuphis or Kneph, the Logos ; the good 
serpent or Agathodamon. 

Ophiomorphos (Gr,), The same, but in its material aspect, as the 
Ophis-Christos. With the Gnostics the Serpent represented " Wisdom 
in Eternity ". 

Ophis-Christos (Gr,), The serpent Christ of the Gnostics. 



OphlozeneB (Gr.). The name of the Cypriote charmers of venomous 
serpents and other reptiles and animals. 

Ophites (Gr,). A Gnostic Fraternity in Egypt, and one of the 
earliest sects of Gnosticism, or Gnosis (Wisdom, Knowledge), known as 
the " Brotherhood of the Serpent". It flourished early in the second 
century, and while holding some of the principles of Valentinus had 
its own occult rites and symbology. A living serpent, representing the 
CAmfus- principle (i.6., the divine reincarnating Monad, not Jesus the 
man), was displayed in their mysteries and reverenced as a symbol of 
wisdom, Sophia, the type of the all-good and all-wise. The Gnostics were 
not a Christian sect, in the common acceptation of this term, as the 
Chfislos of pre-Christian thought and the Gnosis was nat the " god-man " 
Christ, but the divine Ego, made one with Buddhi. Their Christos was 
the "Eternal Initiate ", the Pilgrim, typified by hnndreds of Ophidian 
symbols for several thousands of years before the " Christian " era, so- 
called. One can see it on the " Belzoni tomb" from Egypt, as a wingtd 
serpent with three heads (Atma-Buddhi-Manas), and four human legs, 
typifying its androgynous character ; on the walls of the descent to the 
sepulchral chambers of Rameses V., it is found as a snake with vulture's 
wings — the vulture and hawk being solar symbols. " The heavens 
are scribbled over wilh interminable snakes ", writes Herschel of the 
Egyptian chart of stars. " The JWfiwi (Messiah?) meaning the Sac wi/ 
Word, was a good serpent ", writes Bonwick in his Egyptian Belief. 
" This serpent of goodness, with its head crowned, was mounted upon a 
cross and formed a sacred standard of Egypt." The Jews borrowed it in 
their "brazen serpent of Moses". It is to this "Healer" and 
"Saviour", therefore, that the Ophites referred, and not to Jesus or 
his words, " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so it behoves 
the Son of Man to be lifted up " — when explaining the meaning of 
their ophis. Terlullian, whether wittingly or unwittingly, mixed up the 
two. The four-winged serpent is the god Chnuphis. The good serpent 
bore the cross of life around its neck, or suspended from its mouth. The 
winged serpents become the Seraphim {Seraph, Saraph) of [he Jews. In 
the 87th chapter of the Ritual (the Book of the Dead) the human soul 
transformed into Bata, the omniscient serpent, says ; — " I am the serpent 
Ba-ta, of long years, Soul of the Soul, laid out and born daily ; I am the 
Soul that descends on the earth", i^., the Ego. 

Oral (Gr.). The name of the angel-ruler of Venus, according to the 
Egyptian Gnostics. 

Ofous (Gr.). The bottomless pit in the Codex of the Nazarenes. 

OrgtHvaT (Scand.). Li(,, "seething clay ". The same as Vmir, the 
giant, the unruly, turbulent, erratic being, the type of primordial matter, 



342 THEOSOPKICAL 

om of whose body, after killing him, the sons of Bor created a new earth. 
I le is also the cause of the Deluge in the Scandinavian Lays, for he 
flung his body into Ginnungagap, the yawning abyss ; the latter being 
filled with it, the blood flowed over and produced a ffreal flooil in which 
all the Hrinithiirses, the frost gianls, were drowned; one of them only 
the cunning Bergelmir saves himself and wife in a boat and became the 
father of a new race of giants. " And there were giants on the earth in 
those days." 

Orion (Gr.J. The same as Atlas, who supports the world on his 
shoulders. 

OrIo£ (Scand.). Fate, destiny, whose agents were the three Noms, 
the Norse Parca. 

Ormazd or Ahura Masda (Zend). The god of the Zoroastrians or the I 
modern Parsis. He is symbolized by the sun, as being the Light of I 
Lights.* Esotericaliy, he is the synthesis of his six Amshaspends i 
Elohim, and the creative Logos. In the Mazdean exoteric system, I 
Ahura Mazda is the supreme god, and one with the supreme god of the I 
Vedic age — Varuna, if we read the Vedas literally. 

OrpheUB (Gr.). Lit., the " tawny one '". Mythology makes him the I 
son of ^ager and the muse Calliope. Esoteric tradition identifies him I 
with Arjuna, the son of Indra and the disciple of Krishna. He went | 
round the world teaching t be nations wisdom and sciences, and | 
establishing mysteries. The very story of his losing his Eurydice and I 
finding her in the underworld or Hades, is another point of resemblance 
with the story of Arjuna, who goes to Patala (Hades or hell, but in reality 
the Antipodes or America) and finds there and marries Ulupi, 
daughter of the Niga king. This is as suggestive as the fact that he I 
was considered dark in complexion even by the Greeks, who were never! 
very fair-skinned themselves. 

Orphic Mysteries or Orphica (Gr.). These followed, but differed 1 
greatly from, the mysteries of Bacchus. The system of Orpheus is one ' 
of the purest morahty and of severe asceticism. The theology taught by 
him is again purely Indian. With him the divine Essence is inseparable j 
from whatever is in the infinite universe, all forms being concealed from'! 
all eternity in It. At determined periods these forms are manifested I 
from thp divine Essence or manifest themselves. Thus through this I 
law of emanation (or evolution) all tilings participate in this Essence, ' 
and are parts and members instinct with divine nature, which is omni- 
present. All things having proceeded from, must necessarily return into I 
it ; and therefore, innumerable transmigrations or reincarnations and ] 
purifications are needed before this final consummation can take place. 1 
Thisis pure Vedanta philosophy. Again, the Orphic Brotherhood ate nos 



GLOSSARY 243 

animal food and wore white linen garments, and had many ceremonies 
like those of the Brahmans. 

Oshadi Prastha (Sk.). Lit,, **the place of medicinal herbs". A 
mysterious city in the Himalayas mentioned even from the Vedic period. 
Tradition shows it as once inhabited by sages, great adepts in the healing 
art, who used only herbs and plants, as did the ancient Chaldees/ The 
city is mentioned in the Kumdra Samhhava of Kalidasa. 

Osiris. C^g')' The greatest God of Egypt, the Son of Seb (Saturn), 
celestial fire, and of Neith, primordial matter and infinite space. This 
shows him as the self-existent and self-created god, the first manifesting 
deity (our third Logos), identical with Ahura Mazda and other " First 
Causes **. For as Ahura Mazda is one with, or the synthesis of, the 
Amshaspends, so Osiris, the collective unit, when differentiated and per- 
sonified, becomes Typhon, his brother, I sis and Nephtys his sisterr, 
Horus his son and his other aspects. He was born at Mount Sinai, the 
Nyssa of the O. T. (See Exodus xvii. 15), and buried at Abydos, after 
being killed by Typhon at the early age of twenty-eight, according to the 
allegory. According to Euripides he is the same as Zeus and Dionysos 
or DiO'Nysos ** the god of Nysa ", for Osiris is said by him to have been 
brought up in Nysa, in Arabia "the Happy". Query: how much did 
the latter tradition influence, or have anything in common with, the state- 
ment in the Bible, that ** Moses built an altar and called the name 
Jehovah Nissi'\ or Kabbalistically — ** Dio-Iao-Nyssi"? (See /51s Unveiled 
Vol. n. p. 165.) The four chief aspects of Osiris were — Osiris- Phtah 
(Light), the spiritual aspect ; Osiris-Horus (Mind), the intellectual 
manasic aspect ; Osiris- Lunus, the ** Lunar " or psychic, astral aspect ; 
Osiris-Typhon, Da'imonic, or physical, material, therefore passional 
turbulent aspect. In these four aspects he symbolizes the dual Ego — 
the divine and the human, the cosmico-spiritual and the terrestrial. 

Of the many supreme gods, this Egyptian conception is the most 
suggestive and the grandest, as it embraces the whole range of 
physical and metaphysical thought. As a solar deity he had twelve 
minor gods under him — the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Though his 
name is the ** Ineffable ", his forty-two attributes bore each one of his 
names, and his seven dual aspects completed the forty-nine, or 7 x 7 ; 
the former symbolized by the fourteen members of his body, or twice 
seven. Thus the god is blended in man, and the man is deified into a 
god. He was addressed as Osiris-Eloh. Mr. Dunbar T. Heath speaks 
of a Phoenician inscription which, when read, yielded the following 
tumular inscription in honour of the mummy : ** Blessed be Ta-Bai, 
daughter of Ta-Hapi, priest of Ostris-Eloh. She did nothing against any 
one in anger. She spoke no falsehood against any one. Justified before 



244 TMEOSOPHICAL 

Osiris, blessed be thou from before Osiris ! Peace be to thee ." And 
then he adds the following remarks; "The author of this inscription 
ought, I suppose, to be called a heathen, as justification before Osiris is 
the object of his religious aspirations. We find, however, that he gives 
to Osiris the appellation Eloh. Eloh is the name used by the Ten Tribes 
of Israel for the Elohim of Two Tribes. Jehovah-E!oh {Gen. iii. 31,) in the 
version used by Ephraim corresponds to Jehovah Elohim in that used by 
Judah and ourselves. This being so, the question is sure to be asked, 
and ought to be humbly answered — What was the meaning meant to be 
conveyed by the two phrases respectively. Osiris-Eloh and Jekovak-Eloh? 
For my part I can imagine but one answer, viz., that Osiris was the 
national God of Egypt, Jehovah that of Israel, and ihntEloh is equivalent 
to Deus, Gotl or Diev ". As to his human development, he is, as the 
author of the Egyptian Belief has it . . . "One of the Saviours or 
Deliverers of Humanity .... As such he is bom in the world. 
He came as a benefactor, to relieve man of trouble . . . . In his 
efforts to do good he encounters evil , . . and he is temporarily 
overcome. He is killed . . Osiris is buried. His tomb was the 
object of pilgrimage for thousands of years. But he did not rest in his 
grave. At the end of three days, or forty, he rose again and ascended to 
Heaven. This is the story of his Humanity" (Egypt, Belief), And 
Mariette Bey, speaking of the Sixth Dynasty, tells us that " the name of 
Osiris . . commences to be more used. The formula of Justified is 
met with ''; and adds that "it proves that this name (of the Justified OT 
Makheru) was not given to the dead only". But it also proves that the 
legend of Christ was found ready in almost all its details thousands of : 
years before the Christian era, and that the Church fathers had no j 
greater difficulty than to simply apply it to a new personage. / 

OSBa. (Gy-) A mount, the tomb of the giants (allegorical). 

Otz-Chiim. (Heb.). The Tree of Life, or rather of Lives, a name 
given to the Ten Sephirolh when arranged in a diagram of three 
columns, [w. w. w.] 

Oalam, or Oulom (Heb.). This word does not mean " eternity " or 
infinite duration, as translated in the texts, but simply an extended time, 
neither the beginning nor the end of which can be known. 

Onranos (Gr.J. The whole espanse of Heaven called the "Waters of 
Space ", the Celestial Ocean, etc. The name very Ukely comes from the 
Vedic Varuna, personified as the water god and regarded as the chief 
Aditya among the seven planetary deities. In Hesiod's Theogony, 
Ouranos (or Uranus) is the same as Calus (Heaven) the oldest of all the 
gods and the father of the divine Titans. 



GLOSSARY 245 



P. 

I , — The 1 6th letter in both the Greek and the English alphabets, and 
the 1 7th in the Hebrew, where it is called pe or pay^ and is symbolized by 
the mouth, corresponding also, as in the Greek alphabet, to number 80. 
The Pythagoreans also made it equivalent to 100, and with a dash — 

thus (P), it stood for 400,000. The Kabbalists associated .with it the sacred 
name of Phodeh (Redeemer), though no valid reason is given for it. 

P and Cross, called generally the Laharum of Constantine. It was, 
however, one of the oldest emblems in Etruria before the Roman 
Empire. It was also the sign of Osiris. Both the long Latin and the 
Greek pectoral crosses are Egyptian, the former being very often seen 
in the hand of Horus. ** The cross and Calvary so common in Europe, 
occurs on the breasts of mummies " (Bon wick). 

Paohaoamao (Peruv.). The name given by the Peruvians to the 
Creator of the Universe, represented as a Jtost of creators. On his altar 
only the first-fruits and flowers were laid by the pious. 

Paois Bull. The divine Bull of Hermonthes, sacred to Amoun- Horus, 
the Bull Netos of Heliopolis being sacred to Amoun- Ra. 

Pad&rthas (Sk.J, Predicates of existing things; so-called in the 
Vaiseshika or ** atomic '* system of philosophy founded by Kanada. This 
school is one of the six Darshanas, 

Padma (Sk.J, The Lotus ; a name of Lakshmi, the Hindu Venus, 
who is the wifCf or the female aspect, of Vishnu. 

Padma Asana (Sk,). A posture prescribed to and practised by some 
Yogis for developing concentration. 

Padma Kalpa (Sk,). The name of the last Kalpa or the preceding 
Manvantara, which was a year of BrahmsL. 

Padma Yoni (Sk.J, A title of BrahmA (also called Ahjayoni)^ or the 
*• lotus-born". 

Paaan (Gr.). A hymn of rejoicing and praise in honour of the sun-god 
Apollo or Helios. 

Pa^an (Lat,)» Meaning at first no worse than a dweller in the coun- 
try or the woods ; one far removed from the city-temples, and therefore 
imacquainted with the state religion and ceremonies. The word 
** heathen *' has a similar significance, meaning one who lives on the 
heaths and in the country. Now, however, both come to mean idolaters. 



246 THEOSOPHICAL 

Pa^an Gk>ds. The term is erroneously understood to mean idols. 
The philosophical idea attached to them was never that of something 
objective or anthropomorphic, but in each case an abstract potency, a 
virtue, or quality in nature. There are gods who are divine planetary 
spirits (Dhyan Chohans) or Devas, among which are also our Egos. 
With this exception, and especially whenever represented by an idol or 
in anthropomorphic form, the gods represent symbolically in the Hindu, 
Egyptian, or Chaldean Pantheons — formless spiritual Potencies of the 
" Unseen Kosmos". 

Pahans (Prakrit). Village priests. 

Paksham (Sk,), An astronomical calculation ; one half of the lunar 
month or 14 days ; two paksham (or paccham) making a month of 
mortals, but only a day of the Pitar devata or the ** father-gods". 

PalsBOlithio. A newly-coined term meaning in geology ** ancient 
stone '* age, as a contrast to the term neolithic, the ** newer " or later 
stone age. 

Pal&sa Tree (Sk.) Called also Kanaka (butea frondosa) a tree with red 
flowers of very occult properties. 

Pfili. The ancient language of Magadha, one that preceded the more 
refined Sanskrit. The Buddhist Scriptures are all written in this 
language. 

Palingenesis (Gr.). Transformation ; or new birth. 

Pan (Gr,), The nature-god, whence Pantheism ; the god of shepherds, 
huntsmen, peasants, and dwellers on the land. Homer makes him the 
son of Hermes and Dryope. His name means All. He was the 
inventor of the Pandaean pipes ; and no nymph who heard their sound 
could resist the fascination of the great Pan, his grotesque figure not- 
withstanding. Pan is related to the Mendesian goat, only so far as the 
latter represents, as a talisman of great occult potency, nature's creative 
force. The whole of the Hermetic philosophy is based on nature's 
hidden secrets, and as Baphomet was undeniably a Kabbalistic talisman, 
so was the name of Pan of great magic efficiency in what Eliphas L6vi 
would call the ** Conjuration of the Elementals ". There is a well-known 
pious legend which has been current in the Christian world ever since 
the day of Tiberias, to the effect that the ** great Pan is dead". But 
people are greatly mistaken in this ; neither nature nor any of her 
Forces can ever die. A few of these may be left unused, and being 
forgotten lie dormant for long centuries. But no sooner are the proper 
conditions furnished than they awake, to act again with tenfold power. 

PansBnus (Gr,). A Platonic philosopher in the Alexandrian school 
of Philaletheans. 



GLOSSARY 247 

Panoha Kosha (Sk.), The five " sheaths ". According to Vedantin 
philosophy, Vijnanamaya Kosha, the fourth sheath, is composed of 
Buddhi, or is Buddhi. The five sheaths are said to belong to the two 
higher principles — Jivdtma and Sdkshi, which represent the Upahita and 
An-upahita, divine spirit respectively. The division in the esoteric 
teaching differs from this, as it divides man's physical-metaphysical 
aspect into seven principles. 

Panoha Krishtaya (Sk,). The five races. 

Panohak&ma (Sk.), Five methods of sensuousness and sensuality. 

Panohakritam (Sk,). An element combined with small portions of 
the other four elements. 

Panohama (Sk,), One of the Jive qualities of musical sound, the 
fifth, Nishada and Dai vat a completing the seven ; G of the diatonic 
scale. 

Panohfinana (Sk,), "Five-faced", a title of Siva; an allusion to 
the five races (since the beginning of the Jirsi) which he represents, as 
the ever reincarnating Kum^ra throughout the Manvantara. In the 
sixth root-race he will be called the " six-faced ". 

Panoh&sikha (Sk,), One of the seven Kum^ras who went to pay 
worship to Vishnu on the island of Swetadwipa in the allegory. 

Panohen Rimboohe (Tib,). Lit,, " the great Ocean, or Teacher of 
Wisdom ". The title of the Teshu Lama at Tchigadze ; an incarnation of 
Amitabha the celestial ** father " of Chenresi, which means to say that 
he is an Avatar of Tson-kha-pa (See ** Sonkhapa "). De jure the Teshu 
Lama is second after the Dalai Lama ; de facto, he is higher, since it is 
Dharma Richen, the successor of Tson-kha-pa at the golden monastery 
founded by the latter Reformer and established by the Gelukpi sect 
(yellow caps), who created the Dalai Lamas at Llhassa, and was the first 
of the dynasty of the ** Panchen Rimboche ". While the former (Dalai 
Lamas) are addressed as " Jewel of Majesty ", the latter enjoy a far 
higher title, namely " Jewel of Wisdom ", as they are high Initiates. 

PfindaY&Fani (Sk,). Lit,, the "Pandava Queen"; Kunti, the 
mother of the Pandavas. (All these are highly important personified 
symbols in esoteric philosophy.) 

Pfindavas (Sk,), The descendants of Pandu. 

Pandora (Gr,), A beautiful woman created by the gods under the 
orders of Zeus to be sent to Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus ; she 
had charge of a casket in which all the evils, passions and plagues which 
torment humanity were locked up. This casket Pandora, led by 
ciuiosity, opened, and thus set free all the ills which prey on mankind. 



248 TMEOSOPHICAL 

Pandu (Sk,J. "The Pale", literally: the father of the Pandavas 
Princes, the foes of the Kurava in the Mahabhnrata. 

P&nini (Sk.). A celebrated ^ammarian, author of the famous work 
called Pimin\ya>na : a Rishi, supposed to have received his work from the 
god Siva. Ignorant of the epoch at which he lived, the Orientalists 
place his date between 600 b.c. and 300 a.d. 

Pontaole (Gr.). The same as Pentalpha : the triple triangle of Pytha- 
goras or the five-pointed star. It was given the name because it repro- 
duces the letter A (alpha) on the five sides of it or in five different 
positions — its number, moreover, being composed of the first odd (3) 
and the first even (2) numbers. It is very occult. In Occultism and the 
Kabala it stands for man or the Microcosm, the " Heavenly Man '", and 
as such it was a powerful talisman for keeping at bay evil spirits or the 
Elementals. In Christian theology it refers to the five wounds of Christ ; 
its interpreters failing, however, to add that these " five wounds" were 
themselves symbolical of the Microcosm, or the "Little Universe", 
or again, Humanity, this symbol pointing out the fall of pure Spirit 
(Christos) into matter (Jassous, " life ", or man). In esoteric philosophy 
the Pentaipka, or five-pointed star, is the symbol of the Ego or the Higher 
Manas. Masons use it, referring to it as the five-pointed star, and con- 
necting it with their own fanciful interpretation. (See the word "Pen- 
tacle '■ for its difference in meaning from " Pantacle ".} 

Pantheist. One who identifies God with Nature and vice vend. 
Pantheism is often objected to by people and regarded as reprehensible- 
But how can a philosopher regard Deity as infinite, omnipresent and 
eternal unless Nature is an aspect of IT, and IT informs every atom in 
Nature ? 

Panther (Heb.). According to the Sepktr Toldosh Jesku, one of the 
so-called Apocryphal Jewish Gospels, Jesus was the son of Joseph 
Panther and Mary, hence Ben Panther. Tradition makes of Panther a 
Roman soldier, [w.w.w.] 

P&pa-purQBha (Sk.J. Lit., " Man of Sin 
human form of every wickedni 
reborn. 

Para (Sk.j. 
limit. Param is the end and goal of existence ; Par&para is tlie boundary 
of boundaries. 

Parabrahm (Sk.). "Beyond Brahma", literaUy. The Supreme 
Infinite Brahma, " Absolute "^the attributeless, the secondless reality. 
The impersonal and nameless universal Principle. 

Paraoelaus. The symbolical name adopted by the greatest Occultist 



" : the personification in a 
Esoterically, one who is 
ted from the state of Avilcht — hence, " Soulless ". 
Infinite" and "supreme" in philosophy— the final 



GLOSSARY 249 

of the middle ages — Philip Bombastes Aureolus Theophrastus von 
Hohenheim — born in the canton of Zurich in 1493. He was the clever- 
est physician of his age, and the most renowned for curing almost any 
illness by the power of talismans prepared by himself. He never had a 
friend, but was surrounded by enemies, the most bitter of whom were the 
Churchmen and their party. That he was accused of being in league 
with the devil stands to reason, nor is it to be wondered at that finally 
he was murdered by some unknown foe, at the early age of forty-eight. 
He died at Salzburg, leaving a number of works behind him, which are 
to this day greatly valued by the Kabbalists and Occultists. Many of his 
utterances have proved prophetic. He was a clairvoyant of great 
powers, one of the most learned and erudite philosophers and mystics, 
and a distinguished Alchemist. Physics is indebted to him for the 
discovery of nitrogen gas, or Azote, 

Paradha (Sk,), The period of one-half the Age of BrahmA. 

Parama (Sk.). The ** one Supreme ". 

Paramapad&tmaYa (Sk,). Beyond the condition of Spirit, ** supremer " 
than Spirit, bordering on the Absolute. 

Paramapadha (Sk,). The place where — according to Visishtadwaita 
Vedantins — bliss is enjoyed by those who reach Moksha (Bliss). This 
" place" is not material but made, says the Catechism of that sect, **of 
Suddhasatwa, the essence of which the body of Iswara ", the lord, " is 
made **. 

Paramapaha (Sk.), A state which is already a conditioned existence. 

Paramartha (Sk,). Absolute existence. 

P&ram&rthika fSk.). The one true state of existence according to 
Ved^nta. 

ParamaFshis (Sk,). Composed of two words : parama, " supreme ", 
and Rishis, or supreme Rishis — Saints. 

Param&tman (Sk,), The Supreme Soul of the Universe. 

Paranellatons. In ancient Astronomy the name was applied to 
certain stars and constellations which are extra Zodiacal, lying above and 
below the constellations of the Zodiac ; they were 36 in number: allotted 
to the Decans, or one-third parts of each sign. The paranellatons ascend 
or descend with the Decans alternately, thus when Scorpio rises, Orion in 
its paranellaton sets, also Auriga ; this gave rise to the fable that the 
horses of Phaeton, the Sun, were frightened by a Scorpion, and the 
Charioteer fell into the River Po ; that is the constellation of the River 
Eridanus which lies below Auriga the star, [w.w.w.] 

ParaniFT&na (Sk.). Absolute Non-Beingy which is equivalent to abso- 
1 ute Being or " Be-ness ", the state reached by the human Monad at the 



250 THEOSOPHICAL 

end of the great cycle (See Secret Doctrine I, 135). The same as 
Paranishpanna, 

Parasakti (Sk,), " The great Force '* — one of the six Forces of 
Nature ; that of light and heat. 

Par&saFa (Sk,), A Vedic Rishi, the narrator of Vishnu Purana. 

Paratantra (Sk,). That which has no existence of, or by itself, but 
only through a dependent or causal connection. 

Paroksha (Sk,), Intellectual apprehension of a truth, 

Parsees. Written also Parsis. The followers of Zoroaster. This is 
the name given to the remnant of the once-powerful Iranian nation, 
which remained true to the religion of its forefathers — the fire-worship. 
This remnant now dwells in India, some 50,000 strong, mostly in Bombay 
and Guzerat. 

P&sa (Sk,), The crucifixion noose of Siva, the noose held in his right 
hand in some of his representations. 

Paschalis, Martinez, A very learned man, a mystic and occultist. 
Born about 1700, in Portugal. He travelled extensively, acquiring 
knowledge wherever he could in the East, in Turkey, Palestine, Arabia, 
and Central Asia. He was a great Kabbalist. He was the teacher of 
the Initiator of the Marquis de St. Martin, who founded the mystical 
Martinistic School and Lodges. Paschalis is reported to have died in 
St. Domingo about 1779, leaving several excellent works behind him. 

Pasht (Eg,). The cat-headed goddess, the Moon, called also Sekhet, 
Her statues and representations are seen in great numbers at the British 
Museum. She is the wife or female aspect of Ptah (the son of Kneph), 
the creative principle, or the Egyptian Demiurgus. She is also called 
Beset or Bubastis, being then both the re-uniting and the separating 
principle. Her motto is : *• punish the guilty and remove defilement ", 
and one of her emblems is the cat. According to Viscount Roug6, her 
worship is extremely ancient (n.c. 3000), and she is the mother of the 
Asiatic race, the race that settled in Northern Egypt. As such she is 
called Ouato. 

Pashut (Heb.), ** Literal interpretation." One of the four modes of 
interpreting the Bible used by the Jews. 

Pashyanti (Sk,), The second of the four degrees (Par&, PashyantI, 
Madhyama and Vaikhari), in which sound is divided according to its 
differentiation. 

Pass not, The Ring. The circle within which are confined all those 
who still labour under the delusion of separateness. 

Passing of the River (Kab,), This phrase may be met with in works 



GLOSSARY 251 

referring to mediaeval magic : it is the name given to a cypher alphabet 
used by Kabbalistic Rabbis at an early date ; the river alluded to is the 
Chebar — the name will also be found in Latin authors as Literae 
Transitus. [w.w.w.] 

Pastophori (Gr.). A certain class of candidates for initiation, those 
who bore in public processions (and also in the temples) the sacred coffin 
or funeral couch of the Sun-gods — killed and resurrected, of Osiris, 
Tammuz (or Adonis), of Atys and others. The Christians adopted their 
coffin from the pagans of antiquity. 

P&t&la (Sk,), The nether world, the antipodes ; hence in popular 
superstition the infernal regions, and philosophically the two Americas, 
which are antipodal to India. Also, the South Pole as standing opposite 
to Meru, the North Pole. 

P&taliputra (Sk.), The ancient capital of Magadha, a kingdom of 
Eastern India, now identified with Patna. 

P&ta^jala (Sk,). The Yoga philosophy ; one of the six Darshanas or 
Schools of India. 

Patanjali (Sk,). The founder of the Yoga philosophy. , The date 
assigned to him by the Orientalists is 200 b. c. ; and by the Occultists 
nearer to 700 than 600 b.c. At any rate he was a contemporary of Pinini. 

P&vaka (Sk,), One of the three personified fires — the eldest sons of 
Abhimlinim or Agni, who had forty-five sons ; these with the original son 
of Brahm4, their father Agni, and his three descendants, constitute the 
mystic 49 fires. PItvaka is the electric fire. 

Pavamfina (Sk.), Another of the three fires (vide supra) — the fire 
produced by friction. 

Pavana (Sk,), God of the wind ; the alleged father of the monkey- 
god Hanuman (See ** Rdmayana "). 

Peling (Tib,). The name given to all foreigners in Tibet, to Europeans 
especially. 

Pentaole (Gr,), Any geometrical figure, especially that known as the 
double equilateral triangle, the six-pointed star (like the theosophical 
pentacle) ; called also Solomon's seal, and still earlier ** the sign of 
Vishnu " ; used by all the mystics, astrologers, etc. 

Pentagon (Gr,)^ from pente ** five ", and gonia ** angle " ; in geometry a 
plane figure with hwe angles. 

Per-H-Rhn (Eg.), This name is the recognised pronunciation of 
the ancient title of the collection of mystical lectures, called in English 
The Book of the Dead. Several almost complete papyri have been 
found, and there are numberless extant copies of portions of the 
work. [w. w. w.] 



352 THEOSOPHICAL 

Personality. In Occultism — which divides man into seven principles, 
considering him under the three aspects of the divint, the thinking or the 
ratitmal, and the animal man— the lower quaternary or the purely astro- 
physical being ; while by Individuality is meant the Higher Triad, con- 
sidered as 3 Unity. Thus the Personality umbxices all the characteristics 
and memories of one physical life, while the Individuality is the imperish- 
able Ega which re-incarnates and clothes itself in one personality after 
another. 

Pesll'Han (Tib.). From the Sanskrit fesuna " spy " ; an epithet given 
to Nirada, the meddlesome and troublesome Rishi. 

¥hal& (Sk.J. Retribution; the fruit or result of causes. 

Ph&lgana (Sh.), A name of Arjima ; also of a month. 

Phallic (Or.). Anything belonging to sexual worship ; or of a sexual 
character externally, such as the Hindu lingkam and yoni — the emblems 
of the male and female generative power — which have none of the unclean 
significance attributed to it by the Western mind. 

Phanea (Gr.). One of the Orphic triad — Phanes, Chaos and Chronos. 

It was also the trinity of the Western people in the pre-Christian 
period. 

Phenomenon (Gr.). In reality " an appearance ", something previously 
unseen, and puzzling when the cause of it is unknown. Leaving aside 
various kinds of phenomena, such as cosmic, electrical, chemical, etc., 
and holding merely to the phenomena of spiritism, let it be remembered 
that theosophically and esoterically every " miracle " — from the biblical 
to the theumaturgic — is simply a phenomenon, but that no phenomenon 
is ever a miracle, i.e., something supernatural or outside of the laws of 
nature, as all such are impossibilities in nature. 

Philaletheans (Gr.). Lit., " the lovers of truth " ; the name is given 
to the Alexandrian Neo-Platonists, also called Analogeticists and 
Theosophists. (See Key to Tkeosopky, p, i, et seq.) The school was 
founded by Ammonius Saccas early in the third century, and lasted until 
the fifth. The greatest philosophers and sages of the day belonged 
to it. 

PhilaletheB, Eugenius. The Rosicrucian name assumed by one 
Thomas Vaughan, a medieval Enghsh Occultist and Fire Philosopher. 
He was a great Alchemist, [w.w.w.] 

Philee (Gr.J. An island in Upper Egypt where a famous temple oi 
that name was situated, the ruins of which may be seen to this day 
by travellers. 

Philo Judsus. A Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, and a very famous 
historian and writer; born about 30 b.c, died about 45 A.D. He 



GLOSSARY 253 

ought thus to have been well acquainted with the greatest event of the 
I St century of our era, and the facts about Jesus, his life, and the drama 
of the Crucifixion. And yet he is absolutely silent upon the subject, 
both in his careful enumeration of the then existing Sects and 
Brotherhoods in Palestine and in hi§ accounts of the Jerusalem of his day. 
He was a great mystic and his works abound with metaphysics and noble 
ideas, while in esoteric knowledge he had no rival for several ages among 
the best writers. [See under ** Philo Judaeus " in the Glossary of the 
Key to Theosophy.] 

PhUosopher's Stone. Called also the ** Powder of Projection ". It 
is the Magnum Opus of the Alchemists, an object to be attained by them 
at all costs, a substance possessing the power of transmuting the baser 
metals into pure gold. Mystically, however, the Philosopher's Stone 
symbolises the transmutation of the lower animal nature of man into the 
highest and divine. 

Philostratus (Gr,). A biographer of ApoUonius of Tyana, who 
described the life, travels and adventures of this sage and philosopher. 

Phia (Gr,). A small island in the lake Tritonia, in the days of 
Herodotus. 

Phle^SB (Gr,), A submerged ancient island in prehistoric days and 
identified by some writers with Atlantis ; also a people in Thessaly. 
Pho (Chin,). The animal Soul. 
PhoBbe (Gr.). A name given to Diana, or the moon. 

PhoBbus-Apollo (Gr.). Apollo as the Sun, " the light of life and of 
the world ". 

Phoreg (Gr.). The name of the seventh Titan not mentioned in the 
cosmogony of Hesiod. The ** m3-stery " Titan. 

Phorminx (Gr,), The seven -stringed lyre of Orpheus. 

Phoponede (Gr.). A poem of which Phoroneus is the hero ; this work 
is no longer extant. 

Phoroneus (Gr.J. A Titan ; an ancestor and generator of mankind. 
According to a legend of Argolis, like Prometheus he was credited with 
bringing fire to this earth (Pausauias). The god of a river in 
Peloponnesus. 

Phren (Gr.). A Pythagorean term denoting what we call the K^ma- 
Manas still overshadowed by the Buddhi- Manas. 

Phtah (Eg.). The God of death ; similar to Siva, the destroyer. In 
later Egyptian mythology a sun-god. It is the seat or locality of the 
Sun and its occult Genius or Regent in esoteric philosophy. 

Phta-Ra (Eg-)* One of the 49 mystic (occult) Fires. 



254 THEOSOPHICAL 

Pious, John^ Count of Mirandola, A celebrated Kabbalist and 
Alchemist, author of a treatise ** on gold " and other Kabbalistic works. 
He defied Rome and Europe in his attempt to prove divine Christian 
truth in the Zohar, Born in 1463, died 1494. 

Pillaloo Codi (Tamil). A nickname in popular astronomy given to 
the Pleiades, meaning ** lien and chickens ". The French also, curiously 
enough call this constellation, ** Poussiniere ". 

PHlars, The Two, Jachin and Boaz were placed at the entrance to 
the Temple of Solomon, the first on the right, the second on the left. 
Their symbolism is developed in the rituals of the Freemasons. 

Pillars, TIu Three. When the ten Sephiroth are arranged in the 
Tree of Life, two vertical lines separate them into 3 Pillars, namely 
the Pillar of Severity, the Pillar of Mercy, and the central Pillar of 
Mildness. Binah, Geburah, and Hod form the first, that of Severity ; 
Kether, Tiphereth, Jesod and Malkuth the central pillar ; Chokmah, 
Chesed and Netzach the Pillar of Mercy, [w. w. w.] 

Pillars of Hermes. Like the ** pillars of Seth" (with which they are 
identified) they served for commemorating occult events, and various 
esoteric secrets symbolically engraved on them. It was a universal 
practice. Enoch is also said to have constructed pillars. 

Pingala (Sk.J. The great Vedic authority on the Prosody and chhandas 
of the Vedas. Lived several centuries B.C. 

Pippala (Sk.J. The tree of knowledge : the mystic fruit of that tree 
** upon which came Spirits who love Science". This is allegorical and 
occult. 

Pippalada (Sk.J. A magic school wherein Atharva Veda is explained 
founded by an Adept of that name. 

Pisaohas (Sk.J. In the Purdnas, goblins or demons created by 
Brahma. In the southern Indian folk-lore, ghosts, demons, larvae, and 
vampires — generally female — who haunt men. Fading remnants of 
human beings in Kdmaloka, as shells and Elementaries. 

Pistis Sophia (Sk.J. ** Knowledge-Wisdom." A sacred book of the 
early Gnostics or the primitive Christians. 

Pitar Devata (Sk.). The ** Father-Gods ", the lunar ancestors of 
mankind. 

Pitaras (Sk.J. Fathers, Ancestors. The fathers of the human races. 

Pitris (Sk.J. The ancestors, or creators of mankind. They are of 
seven classes, three of which are incorporeal, avupa, and four corporeal. 
In popular theology they are said to be created from Brahma's side. They 
are variously genealogized, but in esoteric philosophy they are as given 



GLOSSARY 255 

in the Secret Doctrine. In Isis Unveiled it is said of them : ** It 
is generally believed that the Hindu term means the spirits of our 
ancestors, of disembodied people, hence the argument of some 
Spiritualists that fakirs (and yogis) and other Eastern wonder-workers, 
are fnediums. This is in more than one sense erroneous. The Pitris are 
not the ancestors of the present living men, but those of the human kind, 
or Adamic races ; the spirits of human races, which on the great scale 
of descending evolution preceded our races of men, and they were physically y 
as well as spiritually ^ far superior to our modern pigmies. In Mdnava 
Dharma Shdstra they are called the Lunar Ancestors.'' The Secret 
Doctrine has now explained that which was cautiously put forward in 
the earlier Theosophical volumes. 

Ptyadasi (Pali). " The beautiful ", a title of King Chandragupta (the 
** Sandracottus " of the Greeks) and of Asoka the Buddhist king, his 
grandson. They both reigned in Central India between the fourth and 
third centuries B.C., called also DevAn^mpiya, ** the beloved of 
the gods ". 

Plaksha (Sk.) . One of the seven Dwipas (continents or islands) in the 
Indian Pantheon and the Purdnas. 

Plane. From the Latin planus (level, flat) an extension of space or of 
something in it, whether physical or metaphysical, e.g., a "plane of 
consciousness ". As used in Occultism, the term denotes the range or 
extent of some state of consciousness, or of the perceptive power of a 
particular set of senses, or the action of a particular force, or the state 
of matter corresponding to any of the above. 

Planetary Spirits. Primarily the rulers or governors of the planets. 
As our earth has its hierarchy of terrestrial planetary spirits, from the 
highest to the lowest plane, so has every other heavenly body. In 
Occultism, however, the term ** Planetary Spirit '* is generally applied 
only to the seven highest hierarchies corresponding to the Christian 
archangels. These have all passed through a stage of evolution corres- 
ponding to the humanity of earth on other worlds, in long past cycles. 
Our earth, being as yet only in its fourth round, is far too young to have 
produced high planetary spirits. The highest planetary spirit ruling 
over any globe is in reality the " Personal God " of that planet- and 
far more truly its ** over-ruling providence" than the self-contradictory 
Infinite Personal Deity of modern Churchianity. 

Plastic Soul. Used in Occultism in reference to the linga sharira 
or the astral body of the lower Quaternary. It is called ** plastic " and 
also " Protean " Soul from its power of assuming any shape or form and 
moulding or modelling itself into or upon any image impressed in the 



256 THEOSOPHICAL 

astral light around it, or in the minds of the medium or of those present 
at seances for materialization. The linga sharira must not be confused 
with the mayavi rapa or " thought body" — the image created by the 
thought and will of an adept or sorcerer ; for while the " astral form " or 
linga sharira is a real entity, the " thought body " is a temporary illusion 
created !>y the mind. 

Plato. An Initiate into the Mysteries and the greatest Greek 
philosopher, whose writings are known the world over. He was the pupil 
of Socrates and tlie teacher of Aristotle. He flourished over 400 years 

Platonic Sohool, or the " Old Akademe ", in contrast with the later 
or Neo-Piatonic School of Alexandria (See " Philalethean "). 

Ploroma f'G>'.J. "Fulness", a Gnostic term adopted to signify the 
divine world or Universal Soul. Space, developed and divided into a 
series of ;eons. The alK»de of the invisible gods. It has three degrees. 

Plotinas- The noblest, highest and grandest of all the Neo-Platonists 
after the founder of the school, Ammonius Saccas. He was the most 
enthusiastic of the Philalelktans or "lovers of truth", whose aim was to 
found a religion on a system of intellectual abstraction, which is true 
Theosophy, or the whole substance of Neo-Platonism. If we are to 
believe Porphyry, Plotinua has never disclosed either his birth-place or 
connexions, his native land or his race. Til! the age of twenty-eight he 
had never found teacher or teaching which would suit him or answer his 
aspirations. Then he happened to hear Ammonius Saccas, from which 
day he continued to attend his school. At thirty-nine he accompanied 
the Emperor Gordian to Persia and India with the object of learning 
their philosophy. He died at the age of sixty-six after writing fifty-four 
books on philosophy. So modest was he that it is said he " blushed to 
think he had a body ". He reached Samddhi (highest ecstasy or " re- 
union with God " the divine Ego) several times during his life. As said 
by a biographer, " so far did his contempt for his bodily organs go, that 
he refused to use a remedy, regarding it as unworthy of a man to use 
means of this kind ". Again we read, "as he died, a dragon (or serpent) 
that had been under his bed, glided through a hole ia the wall and dis- 
appeared " — a fact suggestive for the student of symbolism. He taught 1 
a doctrine identical with that of the Vedantins, namely, that the Spirit- \ 
Soul emanating from the One deific principle was, after its pilgrimage, 
re-united to It. -^ 

Point within a Circle. In its esoteric meaning the first uomanifested 
logos appearing on the infinite and shoreless expanse of Space, represented 
by the Circle. It is the plane of Infinity and Absoluteness. This is 




GLOSSARY 257 

only one of the numberless and hidden meanings of this symbol, which is 
the most impwrtant of all the geometrical figures used in metaphysical 
emblematology. As to the Masons, they have made of the point " an 
individual brother" whose duty to God and man is bounded by the circle, 
and have added John the Baptist and John the Evangelist to keep 
company with the " brother ", representing them under two perpendicular 
parallel lines. 

Popes -Hagieians. There are several such in history ; t.g.. Pope 
Sylvester II., the artist who made an "oracular head", like the one 
fabricated by Alhertus Magnus, the learned Bishop of Ratisbon. Pope 
Sylvester was considered a great " enchanter and sorcerer " by Cardinal 
Benno,and ihe " head " wassmashed to pieces by Thomas Aquinas, because 
it talked too much. Then there were Popes Benedict IX.. John 
XX., and the Vlth and Vllth Gregory, all regarded by their con- 
temporaries as magicians. The latter Gregory was the famous Hilde- 
brand. As to Bishops and lesser Priests who studied Occultism and 
became expert in magic arts, they are numberless. 

Popol Yuh. The Sacred Books of the Guatemalians. QuJch6 MSS., 
discovered by Brasseur de Bourbourg, 

Porphyry, or Porpkynus. A Neo-Platonist and a most distinguished 
writer, only second to Plotinus as a teacher and philosopher. He was 
born before the middle of the third century a.d., at Tyre, since he 
called himself a Tyrian and is supposed to have belonged to a Jewish 
family. Though himself thorougiily Helienized and a Pagan, his name 
Mtlek {a king) does seem to indicate that he had Semitic blood in his 
veins. Modern critics very justly consider him the most practically 
philosophical, and the soberest, of all the Neo-Platonists. A distinguished 
writer, he was specially famous for his controversy with lambliclms 
regarding the evils attendant upon the practice of Theurgy. He was, 
however, finally converted to the views of his opponent. A natural-born^- 
mystic, he followed, as did his master Plotinus, the pure Indian Raj-( 
Yoga training, which leads to the union of the Soul with the Over- Soul ' 
or Higher Self (Buddhi-Manas). He complains, however, that, all his 
efforts notwithstanding, he did not reach this state of ecstacy before he 
was sixty, while Plotinus was a proficient in it. This was so, probably 
because while his teacher held physical life and body in the greatest 
contempt, limiting philosophical research to those regions where life and 
thought become eternal and divine, Porphyry devoted his whole time to 
considerations of the bearing of philosophy on practical life. " The end 
of philosophy is with him morality ", says a biographer, " we might 
almost say, holiness— the healing of man's infirmities, the imparting lo 
him a purer and more vigorous life. Mere knowledge, however true, is 



25^ THEOSOPHICAL 

not of its^rlf sufficirnt : knowleti;:re has for its object life in accordance 
with .V M» " — ** re.-i-'in ", translates the biographer. As we interpret Nous^ 
ii v. ( ■■.-:.: r. r. t .iS rc':t>on. b'.it mind ; Manas t or the divine eternal Ei^o in 
n^'in, we woiiM translate the idea esoterically. and make it read ** the occult 
f>r secret kifnledzf has for its object terrestrial life in accordance with 
Sons, or our everlastini: reincarnating E£:o *". which would be more con- 
sonant \\ith Piiffhyry's idea, as it is with esoteric philosophy. {See 
Porphyry''^ Dc At'Stinniiia i., 29.) Of all tlie \eo-Platonists, Porphyry 
approa^'hrd the nearest \o real Theosophy as now taught by the Eastern 
sf:rp t 5' hool. This is shown by all our modern critics and writers on the 
Alexandrian school, for ** he held that the Soul should be as far as 
possible fr'^ed from the bonds of matter, ... be ready ... to 
rut off the whrJe body'*. {Ad Marcellam, 34.) He recommends the 
pr;if tire of ab^tinence. saying that *• we should be like the gods if we 
f ould abstain fmm ve^^etable as well as animal food". He accepts with 
rr-hK t.inr,'; theur^^^y and mystic incantation as those are ** powerless to 
piirify the nottic inianasir) principle of the soul " : theurgy can ** but 
fjfranse the lower or psycliic portion, and make it capable of perceiving 
l'>-.v*r bein;,'s, such as spirits, angels and gods" (Aug. De Civ. Dei, x., g), 
ju->t as Theosophy teaches. ** Do not defile the divinity", he adds, 
*'with the vain iina;,'inings of men; you will not injure that which is 
fr.r evf-r blessed 'Huddhi-Manas) but you will blind yourself to the per- 
ception of th*: j^reatest and most vital truths". (Ad Marcellam, 18.) *• If 
w(: would be free from the assaults of evil spirits, we must keep ourselves ■> 
clear of tliose thinj;s over which evil spirits have p>ower, for they attack ; 
not thf pure soul which has no affinity with them". (De Ahstin, ii., 43.) '. 
This is ;igain our teaching. The Church Fathers held Porphyry as the 
bittenst enemy, the most irreconcilable to Christianity. Finally, and 
on<:e nr.re as in modern Theosophy, Porphyry — as all the Neo-Platonists, 
according to St. Augustine — ** praised Christ while they disparaged 
(Christianity "; Jesus, they contended, as we contend, ** said nothing himself 
a;4ainst the j)agan deities, but wrought wonders by their help". **They 
C';uM not call him as his disciples did, CJod, but they honoured him as 
one of the best and wisest of men ". (Dc Civ, Dei,, xix., 23.) Yet, ** even 
in tlie storm of rontnivcrsy, scarcely a word seems to have been uttered 
against the j)rivate life of Porpliyry. His system prescribed purity and 
. . . . he practised it ". (S(ie A Diet, of Christian Biography, Vol. lY., 
** I'«*r|)hyry '*.) 

Poseidonis (Or.). The last remnant of the great Atlantean Continent. 
Plato's island Atlantis is referred to as an equivalent term in Esoteric 
Piiilosophy. 

Postel, Guillaiimc, A French adept, born in Normandy in 1510. 



GLOSSARY 259 

His learning brought him to the notice of Francis I., who sent him 
to the Levant in search of occult MSS., where he was received into and 
initiated by an Eastern Fraternity. On his return to France he became 
famous. He was persecuted by the clergy and finally imprisoned by the 
Inquisition, but was released by his Eastern brothers from his dungeon. 
His Clavis Ahsconditorum, a key to things hidden and forgotten, is very 
celebrated. 

Pot-Amuif. Said to be a Coptic term. The name of an Egyptian 
priest and hierophant who lived under the earlier Ptolemies. Diogenes 
Laertius tells us that it signifies one consecrated to the ** Amun ", the 
god of wisdom and secret learning, such as were Hermes, Thoth, 
and Nebo of the Chaldees. This must be so, since in Chaldea the 
priests consecrated to Nebo also bore his name, being called the Neboim, 
or in some old Hebrew Kabbalistic works, ** Abba Nebu ". The priests 
generally took the names of their gods. Pot-Amun is credited with 
having been the first to teach Theosophy, or the outlines of the Secret 
Wisdom-Religion, to the uninitiated. 

Prabhav&pyaya (Sk,). That whence all originates and into which 
all things resolve at the end of the life-cycle. 

Ppachet&8 (Sh,), A name of Varuna, the god of water, or esoterically 
— its principle. 

Pr&ohetasas (Sk.), See Secret Doctrine, H., 176 et seq, Daksha is the 
son of the Pr^chetasas, the ten sons of Prachinavahis. Men endowed with 
magic powers in the Purdnas, who, while practising religious austerities, 
remained immersed at the bottom of the sea for 10,000 years. The name 
also of Daksha, called Prdchetasa. 

Pradhfina (Sk,), Undifferentiated substance, called elsewhere and in 
other schools — Akisa ; and Mulaprakriti or Root of Matter by the 
Vedantins. In short, Primeval Matter. 

Pra^a (Sk,) or Prajna, A synonym of Mahat, the Universal Mind. 
The capacity for perception. (S, D,, I. 139) Consciousness. 

Prahl&da (Sk.), The son of Hiranyakashipu, the King of the 
Asuras. As Prahlada was devoted to Vishnu, of whom his father was 
the greatest enemy, he became subjected in consequence to a variety of 
tortures and punishments. In order to save his devotee from these, 
Vishnu assumed the form of Nri-Sinha (man-lion, his fourth avatar) and 
killed the father. 

Praj&patiB (Sk,), Progenitors ; the givers of life to all on this Earth. 
They are seven and then ten— corresponding to the seven and ten Kabba- 
listic Sephiroth ; to the Mazdean Amesha-Spentas, &c. Brahma, the 
creator, is called Prajltpati as the synthesis of the Lords of Being. 



26o THEOSOPHICAL 

Pr&krita (Sk,), One of the provincial dialects of Sanskrit — •' the 
language of the gods", and therefore, its materialisation. 

Pr&kritika Pralaya (Sk.), The Pralaya succeeding to the Age of 
Brahmi, when everything that exists is resolved into its primordial 
essence (or Prakriti). 

Prakriti (Sk,), Nature in general, nature as opposed to Purusha — 
spiritual nature and Spirit, which together are the ** two primeval aspects 
of the One Unknown Deity". (Secret Doctrine^ I. 51.) 

Pralaya (Sk.), A period of obscuration or repose — planetary, cosmic 
or universal — the opposite of Manvantara (S. D., I. 370.). 

Pramantha (Sk,), An accessory to producing the sacred fire by 
friction. The sticks used by Brahmins to kindle fire by friction. 

Prameyas (Sk,), Things to be proved ; objects of Pramdfta or proof. 

Pram-Oimas (Lithuanian), Lit,, ** Master of all ", a deity-title. 

Pramlooh& (Sk,), A female Apsaras — a water-nymph who beguiled 
Kandu. (See ** Kandu ".) 

Prfina (Sk,), Life-Principle ; the breath of Life. 

Pr&nam&ya Kosha (Sk.), The vehicle of Prdna, life, or the Linga 
Sarlra : a Vedantic term. 

Pran&tman (Sk.), The same as Sutrdttna, the eternal germ-thread 
on whicli are strung, like beads, the personal lives of the Ego. 
Pranava (Sk.), A sacred word, equivalent to Aum, 
Prfinay&ma (Sk.), The suppression and regulation of the breath in 
Yoga practice. 

Pranidhana (Sk,), The fifth observance of the Yogis ; ceaseless 
devotion. (See Yoga ShdstraSj ii. 32.) 

Prapti (Sk,), From Prdp, to reach. One of the eight Siddhis (power's) 
of R^j-Yoga. The power of transporting oneself from one place to 
another, instantaneously, by the mere force of will; the faculty of divin- 
ation, of healing and of prophesying, also a Yoga power. 

Prasanga Madhyamika (Sk.), A Buddhist school of philosophy in 
Tibet. It follows, like the Yogachar^a system, the Mahnydna or ** Great 
Vehicle " of precepts ; but, having been founded far later than the 
Yogacharya, it is not half so rigid and severe. It is a semi-exoteric and 
very popular system among the literati and laymen. 

Prashraya, or Vinaya (Sk.). ** The progenetrix of affection." A title 
bestowed upon the Vedic Aditi, the " Mother of the Gods". 
Pratibhasika (Sk.), The apparent or illusory life. 
PratisamYid (Sk.), The four ** unlimited forms of wisdom " attained 



by an Arhat ; I 
over the twelvt 



CLossARv 261 

! last of which is the absolute knowietlgc oi and power 
B Nidanas. (See " NidAna".} 

PratyabhaYa (Sk.). The state of the Ego under the necessity of 
repeated births. 

Pratyagatm& (Sk.). The same as Jivatnii, or the one living 
Universal Soul— Alaya. 

Pratyahara (Sk.). The same as " Mahapralaya ". 

Pratyaharana (Sk.J. The preliminary training in practical Rftj-Yoga. 

Pratyakeha (Sk.j. Spiritual perception by means of senses. 

Pratyasarga (Si.). In Sankhya philosophy the "intellectual evo- 
lution of t!ie Universe " ; in the Pitrdnas the 8th creation. 

Pratyeka Buddha (Sh.). The same as " Pasi-Buddha". The 
Pratyeka Buddha is a degree which belongs exclusively to the Yoga- 
chirya school, yet it is on!y one of high intellectual development with no 
true spirituality. It is the dead - Utter oi the Yoga laws, in which intellect 
and comprehension play the greatest part, added to the strict carrying out 
of the rules of the inner development, it is one of the three paths to 
Nirvina, and ihe lowest, in which a Yogi^-" without teacher and without 
saving others"— by the mere force of will and technical observances, 
attains to a kind of nominal BuJdhaship individually ; doing no good to 
anyone, but working selfishly for his own salvation and hiniself alone. 
The PratyCkas are respected outwardly but are despised inwardly by those 
of keen or spiritual appreciation. A Pralyfika is generally compared to a 
" Khadga " or solitary rhinoceros and called Ekaskringa Rishi, a selfish 
solitary Rishi (or saint). '■ As crossing Sansiira (' the ocean of birth and 
death ' or the series of incarnations), suppressing errors, and yet not 
attaining to absolute perfection, the Pratyeka Buddha is compared with 
a horse which crosses a river swimming, without touching the ground." 
(Samhrit. Chinese Did.) He is far below a true "Buddha of Compassion". 
He strives only for the reaching of Nirvana. 

Pre -exists nee. The term used to denote that we have lived before. 
The same as reincarnation in the past. The idea is derided by some, 
rejected by others, called absurd and inconsistent by the third : yet it 
is the oldest and the most universally accepted belief from an immemorial 
antiquity. And if this belief was universally accepted by the most subtle 
philosophical minds of the pre-Christian world, surely it is not amiss that 
some of our modern intellectual men should also believe in it, or at least 
give the doctrine the lienefit of the doubt. Even the Bible hints at 
it more than once, St. John the Baptist being regarded as the reincarna- 
tion of Elijah, and the Disciples asking whether the blind man woi born 
blind bteauit of his tins, which is e^ual to saying that he had lived and iiarted 



262 THEOSOPHICAL 

before beitif^ born blind . As Mr. Bon wick well says : it was " the work of 
spiritual proj^rcssion and soul discipline. The pampered sensualist re- 
turned a bej^p^ar ; tlie proud oppressor, a slave ; the selfish woman of 
fashion, a seamstress. A turn of the wheel gave a chance for the devel- 
opment of nej^dected or abused intelligence and feeling, hence the popu- 
larity of reincarnation in all climes and times. . . . thus the expur- 
pjation of evil was . . . f^radually but certainly accomplished." 
Verily ** an evil act follows a man, passing through one hundred thousand 
transmigrations" ( Panchatantra). *' All souls have a subtle vehicle, image 
of the body, which carries the passive soul from one material dwelling to 
another" says Kapila ; while Basnage explains of the Jews: "By this 
second death is not considered hell, but that which happens when a soul 
has a second time animated a body ". Herodotus tells his readers, that 
the ICgyptians *' are the earliest who have spoken of this doctrine, accord- 
ing to whicli the soul oi man is immortal, and after the destruction of the 
body, enters into a newly born being. When, say they, it has passed through 
all the animals of tlie earth and sea, and all the birds, it will re-enter 
the body of a new born man." This is Pre-existence, Deveria showed 
that the funeral books of tlie ICgyptians say plainly '*that resurrection was, 
in reality, but a renovation, leatling to a new infancy, and a new youth". 
(See *' Reincarnation ".) 

Fretas (Sk.), " Hungry demons" in popular folk-lore. ** Shells", of 
th(i avaricious and selhsh man after death ; *' Elemcntaries " reborn as 
Pretas, in Kama-loka, according to the esoteric teachings. 

Priestesses. Every ancient rehgion had its priestesses in .the temples. 
In Egypt they were called the Si'i and served the altar of Isis and in the 
temples of other goddesses. Canephora was the name given by the Greeks 
to those consecrated priestesses who bore the baskets of the gods during the 
public festivals of the l^leusinian Mysteries. There were female prophets 
in Israel as in Egypt, diviners of dreams and oracles ; and Herodotus 
mentions tlie Hierodules, the virgins or nuns dedicated to the Theban 
Jove, who were generally the Pharaohs' daughters and other Princesses 
of the Royal House. Orientalists speak of the wife of Cephrenes, the 
builder of the so-called second Pyramid, who was a priestess of Thoth. 
(See "Nuns".) 

Primordial Light, in Occultism, the light which is born in, and 
through the preternatural darkness of chaos, which contains ** the all in 
all ", the seven rays that become later the seven Principles in Nature. 

Principles. The Elements or original essences, the basic differentiations 
upon and of which all things are built up. We use the term to denote 
the seven individual and fundamental aspects of the One Universal 
Reality in Kosmos and in man. Hence also the seven aspects in their 



GLOSSARY 263 

manifestation in the human being — divine, spiritual, psychic, astral, 
physiological and simply physical. 

Priyavpata (Sk,), The name of the son of Swayambhuva Martu in 
exoteric Hinduism. The occult designation of one of the primeval races 
in Occultism. 

Proclus (Gr,), A Greek writer and mystic philosopher, known as a 
Commentator of Plato, and surnamed the Diadochus. He lived in the 
fifth century, and died, aged 75, at Athens a.d. 485. His last ardent 
disciple and follower and the translator of his works was Thomas Taylor 
of Norwich, who, says Brother Kenneth Mackenzie, ** was a modern 
mystic who adopted the pagan faith as being the only veritable faith, 
and actually sacrificed doves to Venus, a goat to Bacchus and . . . 
designed to immolate a bull to Jupiter " but was prevented by his 
landlady. 

Prometheus (^Gr.j. The Greek /o^w; he, who by bringing on earth 
divine fire (intelligence and consciousness) endowed men with reason 
and mind. Prometheus is the Hellenic type of our Kum^ras or Egos^ 
those who, by incarnating in men, made of them latent gods instead of 
animals. The gods (or Elohim) were averse to men becoming " as one 
of us " {Genesis iii., 22), and knowing ** good and evil ". Hence we see 
these gods in every religious legend punishing man for his desire to 
know. As the Greek myth has it, for stealing the fire he brought to men 
from Heaven, Prometheus was chained by the order of Zeus to a crag 
of the Caucasian Mountains. 

PropatOF (Gr,). A Gnostic term. The ** Depth '* of Bythos, or En- 
Ai6r, the unfathomable light. The latter is alone the Self-Existent and 
the Eternal — Propator is only periodical. 

Protojonos (Gr,). The ** first-born"; used of all the manifested gods 
and of the Sun in our system. 
Proto-ilos (Gr,). The first primordial matter. 

Protolojoi (Gr.). The primordial seven creative Forces when anthro- 
pomorphized into Archangels or Logoi. 

Protyle (Gr,). A newly-coined word in chemistry to designate the 
first homogeneous, primordial substance. 

Pschent (Eg.). A symbol in the form of a double crown, meaning 
the presence of Deity in death as in life, on earth as in heaven. This 
Pschent is only worn by certain gods. 

Psyohe (Gr.). The animal, terrestrial Soul ; the lower Manas. 

Psyohism, from the Greek psyche. A term now used to denote 
very loosely every kind of mental phenomena, e.g,^ mediumship, and thsj 



MBH 



264 THEOSOPHICAL 

higher sensitiveness, hypnotic receptivity, and inspired prophecy, simple 
clairvoyance in the astral light, and real divine seership ; in short, the 
word covers every phase and manifestation of the powers and potencies 
of the human and the divine Souls. 

Psychography. A word first used by theosophists ; it means 
writing under the dictation or the influence of one's ** soul-power", though 
Spiritualists have now adopted the term to denote writing produced by 
their mediums under the guidance of returning ** Spirits". 

Psycholo^. The Science of Soul, in days of old : a Science which served 
as the unavoidable basis for physiology. Whereas in our modern day, it 
is psychology that is being based (by our ^^^a/ scientists) upon physiology. 

Psychometry. L/7., ** Soul-measuring"; reading or seeing, not with 
the physical eyes, but with the soul or inner Sight. 

Psychophobia. Lit.^ ** Soul-fear," applied to materialists and certain 
atheists, who become struck with madness at the very mention of 
Soul or Spirit. 

Psylli (Gr.), Serpent-charmers of Africa and Egypt. 

Ptah, or Pthah fligj^ The son of Kneph in the Egyptian Pantheon. 
He is the Principle of Light and Life through which ** creation " or 
rather evolution took place. The Egyptian logos and creator, the 
Demiiirgos. A very old deity, as, according to Herodotus, he had a temple 
erected to him by Mencs, the first king of Egypt. He is ** giver of life" and 
the self- born, and the father of Apis, the sacred bull, conceived through 
a ray from the Sun. Ptali is thus the prototype of Osiris, a later deity. 
Herodotus makes him the father of the Kahiri, the mystery-gods ; and 
the Targum of Jerusalem says : ** Egyptians called the wisdom of the First 
Intellect Ptah " ; hence he is Mahat the " divine wisdom " ; though from 
another aspect lie is Swahhdvat, the self-created substance, as a prayer 
addressed to him in tlie Ritual of the Dead says, after calling Ptah ** father 
of fathers and of all gods, generator of all men produced from his 
substance": *' Thou art without father, being engendered by thy own 
will ; thou art without mother, being born by the renewal of thine own 
substame from whom proceeds substance''. 

PCija (Sk.), An offering ; worship and divine honours offered to an 
idol or something sacred. 

Pulastya (Sk,), One 01 the seven ** mind-born sons" of Brahmi; 
the reputctl father of the Nagas (serpents, also Initiates) and other 
symbolical creatures. 

Pums (Sk,), Spirit, supreme Purusha, Man. 

Punarjanma (Sk,), The power of evolving objective manifestations ; 
motion of forms ; also, re-birth. 



GLOSSARY 265 

Pundartk-aksha (Sk.J, Lit., ** lotus-eyed ", a title of Vishnu. 
** Supreme and imperishable glory ", as translated by some Orientalists. 

Piiraka (Sh,). Inbreathing process ; a way of breathing as regulated 
according to the prescribed rules of Hatha Yoga. 

PuF&nas (Sk.J. Lit,, " ancient ". A collection of symbolical and 
allegorical writings — eighteen in number now — supposed to have been 
composed by Vyasa, the author of Mahdbhdrata. 

Purohitas (Sk.J. Family priests ; Brahmans. 

Pururavas (Sk,J, The son of Budha, the son of Soma (the moon), 
and of I la ; famous for being the first to produce fire by the friction of two 
pieces of wood, and make it (the fire) triple. An occult character. 

PoFUsha (Sk.J. **Man", heavenly man. Spirit, the same as Narayana 
in another aspect. ** The Spiritual Self." 

PoFUsha Narayana (Sk.J. Primordial male — Brahma. 

Purushottama (Sk,), Lit,, ** best of men " ; metaphysically, however, 
it is spirit, the Supreme Soul of the universe; a title of Vishnu. 

Pftrvaja (^5^.j. ** Pregenetic", the same as the Orphic Protologos ; a 
title of Vishnu. 

Purvashadha (Sk,). An asterism. 

P&shan (Sk.J. A Vedic deity, the real meaning of which remains 
unknown to Orientalists. It is qualified as the ** Nourisher", the feeder 
of all (helpless) beings. Esoteric philosophy explains the meaning. 
Speaking of it the Taittirlya Brdhniana says that, " When Prajapati formed 
living beings, Pushan nourished them". This then is the same 
mysterious force that nourishes the foetus and unborn babe, by Ostnosis, 
and which is called the ** atmospheric (or akdsic) nurse '', and the ** father 
nourisher*. When the lunar Pitris had evolved men, these remained 
senseless and helpless, and it is ** Pushan who fed primeval man ". Also 
a name of the Sun. 

Pushkala (Sk.) or Puskola. A palm leaf prepared for writing on, used 
in Ceylon. All the native books are written on such palm leaves, and 
last for centuries. 

Pushkara (Sk.). A blue lotus; the seventh Dwtpa or zone of 
Bharatavarsha (India). A famous lake near Ajmere ; also the proper 
name of several persons. 

P&to (Sk.). An island in China where Kwan-Shai-Yin and Kwan-Yin 
have a number of temples and monasteries. 
Putra (Sk.). A son. 

Pu-tsi K'iun-ling (Chin.). Lit., **the Universal Saviour of all 
beings ". A title of Avalokiteswara, and also of Buddha, 



266 THEOSOPHICAL 

Pygmalion (Gr,), A celebrated sculptor and statuary in the island of 
Cyprus, who became enamoured of a statue he had made. So the Goddess 
of beauty, taking pity on him, changed it into a living woman (Ovid, Met,). 
The above is an allegory of the soul. 

PymajiderfGr,). The ** Thought divine ". The Egyptian Prometheus 
and the personified Nous or divine light, which appears to and instructs 
Hermes Trismegistus, in a hermetic work called "Pymander**. 

Pyrrha^Gr.j. A daughterof Epimatheosand Pandora, who was married 
to Deucalion. After a deluge when mankind was almost annihilated, 
Pyrrha and Deucalion made men and women out of stones which they 
threw behind them. 

Pyrrhonism (Gr.J. The doctrine of Scepticism as first taught by 
Pyrrho, though his system was far more philosophical than the blank 
denial of our modern Pyrrhonists. 

Pythagoras (Gr.). The most famous of mystic philosophers, born at 
Samos, about 586 b.c. He seems to have travelled all over the world, 
and to have culled his philosophy from the various systems to which he 
had access. Thus, he studied the esoteric sciences with the Brachmanes 
of India, and astronomy and astrology in Chaldea and Egypt. He is 
known to this day in the former country under the nameof Yavanach&rya 
(** Ionian teacher "). After returning he settled in Crotona, in Magna 
Grecia, where he established a college to which very soon resorted all the 
best intellects of the civilised centres. His father was one Mnesarchus of 
Samos, and was a man of noble birth and learning. It was Pythagoras 
who was the first to teach the heliocentric system, and who was the 
greatest proficient in geometry of his century. It was he also who 
created the word ** philosopher ", composed of two words meaning a 
** lover of wisdom " — philo-sophos. As the greatest mathematician, geometer 
and astronomer of historical antiquity, and also the highest of the 
metaphysicians and scholars, Pythagoras has won imperishable fame. 
He taught reincarnation as it is professed in India and much else of the 
Secret Wisdom. 

Pythagorean Pentacle (Gr,), A Kabbalistic six-pointed star with an 
eagle at the apex and a bull and a lion under the face of a man ; a mystic 
symbol adopted by the Eastern and Roman Christians, who place these 
animals beside the four Evangelists. 

Pythia or Pythoness (Gr,), Modern dictionaries inform us that the 
term means one who delivered the oracles at the temple of Delphi, and 
"any female supposed to have the spirit of divination in her — a witch'' 
(Webster). This is neither true, just nor correct. On the authority of 
lamblichus, Plutarch and others, a Pythia was a priestess chosen among 
the sensitives of the poorer classes, and placed in a temple where oracular 



GLOSSARY 267 

p)owers were exercised. There she had a room secluded from all but the 
chief Hierophant and Seer, and once admitted, was, like a nun, lost to 
the world. Sitting on a tripod of brass placed over a fissure in the 
ground, through which arose intoxicating vapours, these subterranean 
exhalations, penetrating her whole system, produced the prophetic manias 
in which abnormal state she delivered oracles. Aristophanes in 
** Vaestas "I., reg. 28, calls the Pythia ventriloqua vates or the " ventrilo- 
quial prophetess", on account of her stotnach-woice. The ancients placed 
the soul of man (the lower Manas) or his personal self- consciousness, in 
the pit of his stomach. We find in the fourth verse of the second 
Ndhhdfudishta hymn of the Brahmans : " Hear, O sons of the gods, one 
who speaks through his name (ndbhd), for he hails you in your 
dwellings ! " This is a modern somnambulic phenomenon. The navel 
was regarded in antiquity as " the circle of the sun ", the seat of divine 
internal light. Therefore was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, the city of 
Delphus, the womb or abdomen — w hile the seat of the temple was called the 
omphalos, navel. As well-known, a number of mesmerized subjects can 
read letters, hear, smell and see through that part of their body. In 
India there exists to this day a belief (also among the Parsis) that adepts 
have flames in their navels, which enlighten for them all darkness and 
unveil the spiritual world. It is called with the Zoroastrians the lamp 
o/Deshtur or the ** High Priest"; and the light or radiance of the Dikshita 
(the initiate) with the Hindus. 

Pytho/Gr.j. The same as Oh — a fiendish, devilish influence ; the oh 
through which the sorcerers are said to work. 



268 THEOSOPHICAL 



w . — The seventeenth letter of the English Alphabet. It is the obsolete 
^olian Qoppa, and the Hebrew Koph, As a numeral it is loo, and its 
symbol is the back of the head from the ears to the neck. With the 
^olian Occultists it stood for the symbol of differentiation. 

Qabbalah (Heb.). The ancient Chaldean Secret Doctrine, abbreviated 
into Kabala. An occult system handed down by oral transmission ; but 
which, though accepting tradition, is not in itself composed of merely 
traditional teachings, as it was once a fundamental science, now dis- 
figured by the additions of centuries, and by interpolation by the 
Western Occultists, especially by Christian Mystics. It treats of hitherto 
esoteric interpretations of the Jewish Scriptures, and teaches several 
methods of interpreting Biblical allegories. Originally the doctrines 
were transmitted ** from mouth to ear" only, says Dr. W. Wynn 
Westcott, ** in an oral manner from teacher to pupil who received 
them ; hence the name Kabbalah, Qabalah, or Cabbala from the Hebrew 
root QBL, to receive. Besides this Theoretic Kabbalah, there was 
created a Practical branch, which is concerned with the Hebrew letters, 
as types alike ofSounds, Numbers, and Ideas." (See **Gematria", **Notari- 
con ", *' Temura ".) For the original book of the Qabbalah — the Zohar — see 
further on. But the Zohar we have now is not the Zohar left by Simeon 
Ben Jochai to his son and secretary as an heirloom. The author of the 
present approximation was one Moses de Leon, a Jew of the XII Ith 
century. (See '* Kabalah " and *' Zohar ".) 

Qadmon, Adam, or Adam Kadmon (Ileb,). The Heavenly or Celestial 
Man, the Microcosm (q^v.). He is the manifested Logos; the third 
Logos according to Occultism, or the Paradigm of Humanity. 

Qai-yin (Heb,), The same as Cain. 

Qaniratha (Mazd,). Our earth, in the Zoroastrian Scriptures, which 
is placed, as taught in the Secret Doctrine, in the midst of the other 
six Karshwarsy or globes of the terrestrial chain. (See Secret Doctrine, 
II. p. 759.) 

Q'lippoth (Heb, J, or Klippoth, The world of Demons or Shells ; the 
same as the Aseeyatic World, called also Olam Klippoth, It is the 
residence of Samdely the Prince of Darkness in the Kabbalistic allegories. 



GLOSSARY 269 

But note what we read in the Zohar (ii. ^-^a) : ** For the service of the 
Angelic World, the Holy. . . . made Samael and his legions, i.e,y 
the world of action, who are as it were the clouds to be used (by the 
higher or upper Spirits, our Egos) to ride upon in their descent to the 
earth, and serve, as it were, for their horses ". This, in conjunction 
with the fact that Q'lippoth contains the matter of which stars, planets, 
and even men are made, shows that Samael with his legions is simply 
chaotic, turbulent matter, which is used in its finer state by spirits to 
robe themselves in. For speaking of the ** vesture " or form (rupa) of 
the incarnating EgoSy it is said in the Occult Catechism that they, the 
M^nasaputras or Sons of Wisdom, use for the consolidation of their 
forms, in order to descend into lower spheres, the dregs of Swabkdvat, or 
that plastic matter which is throughout Space, in other words, primordial 
ilus. And these dregs are what the Egyptians have called Typhon and 
modern Europeans Satan, Samael, etc., etc. Deus est Demon inversus — the 
Demon is the lining of God. 

Quadrivium (Lat.J. A term used by the Scholastics during the 
Middle Ages to designate the last four paths of learning — of which there 
were originally seven. Thus grammar, rhetoric and logic were called 
the trivium, and arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy (the Pytha- 
gorean obligatory sciences) went under the name of quadrivium. 

Quetzo-Cohuatl (Mex,), The serpent-god in the Mexican Scriptures 
and legends. His wand and other ** land-marks " show him to be some 
great Initiate of antiquity, who received the name of " Serpent *' on 
account of his wisdom, long life and powers. To this day the aboriginal 
tribes of Mexico call themselves by the names of various reptiles, animals 
and birds. 

Quiche Cosmogony. Called Popol Vuh; discovered by the Abb6 Bras- 
seur de Bourbourg. (See ** Popol Vuh '\) 

Quietists. A religious sect founded by a Spanish monk named 
Molinos. Their chief doctrine was that contemplation (an internal state 
of complete rest and passivity) was the only religious practice possible, 
and constituted the whole of religious observances. They were the 
Western Hatha Yogis and passed their time in trying to separate their 
minds from the objects of sense. The practice became a fashion in 
France and also in Russia during the early portion of this century. 

Quinanes. A very ancient race of giants, of whom there are many 
traditions, not only in the folk-lore but in the history of Central America. 
Occult science teaches that the race which preceded our own human 
race was one of giants, which gradually decreased, after the Atlantean 
deluge had almost swept them off the face of the earth, to the present 
size of man. 



270 THEOSOPHICAL 

QuindeoemYir (Lat.). The Roman priest who had charge of the 
Sibylline books. 

QQ-tamy (Ckald,). The name of the mystic who receives the 
revelations of the moon-goddess in the ancient Chaldean work, translated 
into Arabic, and retranslated by Chwolsohn into German, under the 
name of Nabathean Agriculture, 



GLOSSARY 271 



R. 

Iv . — The eip^hteenth letter of the alphabet ; ** the canine ", as its sound 
reminds one of a snarl. In the Hebrew alphabet it is the twentieth, and 
its numeral is 200. It is equivalent as Resh to the divine name 
Rahim (clemency); and its symbols are, a sphere, a head, or a circle. 

Ra (Eg,), The divine Universal Soul in its manifested aspect — the 
ever-burning light ; also the personified Sun. 

Rabbis (Hch.), Originally teachers of the Secret Mysteries, the 
Qabbalah ; later, every Levite of the priestly caste became a teacher and 
a Rabbin. (See the series of Kabbalistic Rabbis by w.w.w.) 

1 Rabbi Abulafia of Saragossa, born in 1240, formed a school of 
Kabbalah named after him ; his chief works were The Seven Paths of the 
Law and The Epistle to Rabbi Solomon. 

2 Rabbi Akiba. Author of a famous Kabbalistic work, the "Alpha- 
bet of R.A.'*, which treats every letter as a symbol of an idea and an 
emblem of some sentiment ; the Book of Enoch was originally a portion of 
this work, which appeared at the close of the eighth century. It was 
not purely a Kabbalistic treatise. 

3 Rabbi Azariel ben Henachem (a.d. 1160). The author of the 
Commentary on the Ten Sephiroth^ which is the oldest purely Kabba- 
listic work extant, setting aside the Sepher Yetzirah, which although 
older, is not concerned with the Kabbalistic Sephiroth. He was the 
pupil of Isaac the Blind, who is the reputed father of the European 
Kabbalah, and he was the teacher of the equally famous R. Moses 
Nachmanides. 

4 Rabbi Hoses Botarel (1480). Author of a famous commentary on 
the Sepher Yetzirah ; he taught that by ascetic life and the use of invoca- 
tions, a man's dreams might be made prophetic. 

5 Rabbi Chajim Vital (1600). The great exponent of the Kabbalah 
as taught R. Isaac Loria : author of one ot the most famous works, Otz 
Chiim, or Tree of Life ; from this Knorr von Rosenroth has taken the 
Book on the Rashith ha Gilgahm^ revolutions of souls, or scheme of 
reincarnations. 

6 Rabbi Ibn Gebirol. A famous Hebrew Rabbi, author of the hymn 
Kether Malchuth, or Royal Diadem, which appeared about 1050 ; it is a 
beautiful poem, embodying the cosmic doctrines of Aristotle, and it even 



272 THEOSOPHICAL 

now forms part of the Jewish special service for the evening preceding 
the great annual Day of Atonement (See Ginsburg and Sachs on the 
Religious Poetry of the Spanish Jen's), This author is also known as 
Avicebron. 

7 Rabbi Gikatilla. A distinguished Kabbalist who flourished about 
1300 : he wrote the famous books, The Garden of Nuts, The Gate to the 
Vowel Points, The mystery of the shining Metal, and The Gates of Righteous- 
ness. He laid especial stress on the use of Gematria, Notaricon and 
Temura. 

8 Rabbi Isaao the Blind of Posquiero. The first who publicly taught 
in Europe, about a.d. 1200, the Theosophic doctrines of the Kabbalah, 

9 Rabbi Loria (also written Luria, and also named Art from his 
initials). Founded a school of the Kabbalah circa 1560. He did not 
write any works, but his disciples treasured up his teachings, and R. 
Chajim Vital published them. 

10 Rabbi Moses Cordovero (a.d. 1550). The author of several 
Kabbalistic works of a wide reputation, viz,, A Sweet Light, The Book of 
Retirement^ and 'The Garden of Pomegranates ; this latter can be read in 
Latin in Knorr von Rosenroth's Kabbalah Denudata, entitled Tractatus de 
Animo, ex libra Pardes Rimmonim. Cordovero is notable for an adherence 
to the strictly metaphysical part, ignoring the wonder-working branch 
which Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi practised, and almost perished in the 
pursuit of. 

11 Rabbi Moses de Leon (circa 1290 a.d.). The editor and first 
pubHsher of the Zohar, or *' Splendour ", the most famous of all the 
Kabbalistic volumes, and almost the only one of which any large part 
has been translated into English. This Zohar is asserted to be in the 
main tlie production of the still more famous Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, 
who lived in the reign of the Emperor Titus. 

12 Rabbi Moses Maimonides (died 1304). A famous Hebrew Rabbi 
and author, who condemned the use of charms and amulets, and objected 
to the Kabbalistic use of the divine names. 

13 Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi (born 1641). A very famous Kabbalist, who 
passing beyond the dogma became of great reputation as a thaumaturgist, 
working wonders by the divine names. Later in life he claimed 
Messiahship and fell into the hands of the Sultan Mohammed IV. of 
Turkey, and would have been murdered, but saved his life by adopting 
the Mohammedan religion. (See Jost on Judaism and its Sects,) 

14 Rabbi Simon ben Jochai (circa a.d. 70-80). It is round this name 
that cluster the mystery and poetry of the origin of the Kabbalah as a 
gift of the deity to mankind. Tradition has it that the Kabbalah was a 



GLOSSARY 273 

divine tlieosophy first taught by God to a company of angels, anti that 
some glimpses of its perfection were conferred upon Adam ; that the 
wisdom passed from him unioNoah; thence to Abraham, from whom 
the Egyptians of his era learned a portion of the doctrine. Moses derived 
a partial initiation from the land of his birth, and this was perfected by 
direct communications with the deity. From Moses it passed to the 
seventy elders of the Jewish nation, and from them the theosophic 
scheme was handed from generation to generation ; David and Solomon 
especially became masters of this concealed doctrine. No attempt, the 
legends tell us, was made to commit the sacred knowledge to writing 
until the time of the destruction of the second Temple by Titus, when 
Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, escaping from the besieged Jerusalem, concealed 
himself in a cave, where he remained for twelve years. Here he, a 
Kabbalist already, was further instructed by the prophet Elias. Herp 
Simon taught his disciples, and his chief pupils. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi 
Abba, committed to writing those teachings which in later ages became 
known as the Zohar, and were certainly published afresh in Spain by 
Rabbi Moses de Leon, about 1280. A fierce contest has raged for cen- 
turies between the learned Rabbis of Europe around the origin of the 
legend, and it seems quite hopeless to expect ever to arrive at an 
accurate decision as to what portion of the Zohar, if any, is as old as 
Simon ben Jochai. (See " Zohar ",J [w.w.w.] 

R&dhfL (Sk.). The shepherdess among the Gopis (shepherdesses) of 
Krishna, who was the wife of the god. 

Riga (Sk.). One of the five KUshas {afflictions) in Patinjali's Yoga 
philosophy. In Sniikhya Ki'mliil, it is the " obstruction " called love and 
desire in the physical or terrestrial sense. The five Kleshas are : Avidyti, 
or ignorance; .-iiw/W, selfishness, or "I-am-ness"; Rdga,\ove; Dwesha, 
hatred ; and Abhinivssa, dread of suffering, 

Ragnariik (Scand.). A kind of metaphysical entity called the 
" Destroyer " and the " Twilight of the Gods ", the two-thirds of whom 
are destroyed at the " Last Battle" in the EdJa. Ragnarok lies in chains ' 
on the ledge of a rock so long as there are some good men in the world ; 
but when all laws are broken and all virtue and good vanish from it, 
then Ragnarok will be unbound and allowed to bring every imaginable 
evil and disaster on the doomed world. 

Ragon, _7- ^' A French Mason, a distinguished writer and great 
symbologist, who tried to bring Masonry back to its pristine purity. He 
was born at Bruges in 1789, was received when quite a boy into the 
Lodge and Chapter of the " Vrais Amis ", and upon removing to Paris 
founded the Society of the Trinosophes, It is rumoured that he was the 
possessor of a number of papers given to him by the famous Count de 



274 THEOSOPHICAL 

St. Germain, from which he had all his remarkable knowledge upon early 
Masonry. He died at Paris in 1866, leaving a quantity of books written 
by himself and masses of MSS., which were bequeathed by him to the 
" Grand Orient ". Of the mass of his published works very few are obtain- 
able, while others have entirely disappeared. This is due to mysterious 
persons (Jesuits, it is believed) who hastened to buy up every edition they 
could find after his death. In short, his works are now extremely rare. 

Rahasya (Sk.J. A name of the Upanishads. Lil., secret essence of 
knowledge. 

Rahat. The same as " Arhat " ; the adept who becomes entirely 
free from any desires on tliis plane, by acquiring divine knowledge 
and powers. 

Ra'hmin fiath (Heh.). According to the Kabala {or Qabbalah), the 
" soul-sparks", contained in Adam (Kadmon), went into three sources, 
the heads of which were his three sons. Thus, while the " soul spark " 
(or Ego) called Chesed went into Habel, and Geboor-ah into Qai-yin 
(Cain)^Ra'hmin went into Setli, and these three sons were divided into 
seventy human sj>ecies, called " the principal roots of the human race". 

RSllQ fSk.). A Daitya (demon) whose lower parts were like a dragon's 
tail. He made himself immortal by robbing the gods of some Amrita — 
the elixir of divine life — for which they were churning the ocean of milk. 
Unable to deprive him of his immortality, Vishnu exiled him from the 
earth and made of him the constellation Draco, his head being called 
Rahu and his tail Ketu — astronomically, the ascending and descending 
nodes. With the latter appendage he has ever since waged a destruc- 
tive war on the denouncers of his robbery, the sun and the moon, 
and (during the eclipses) is said to swallow them. Of course the fable 
has a mystic and occult meaning. 

Rahula (Sk.). The name of Gautama Buddha's son. 

Raibhyas (Sk.). A class of gods in the 5th Manvantara. 

Raivata Hanvantara (Sk.). The life-cycle presided over by Raivata 
Manu. As he is the fifth of the fourteen Manus (in Esotercism, Dhyan 
Chohans), there being seven rcot-Manus and seven swrf-Manus for the 
seven Rounds of our terrestrial chain of globes (See Hsof. Buddhism by 
A. P. Siimctt, And the Secret Doclrine, Vol. I.," Brahniinical Chronology"), 
Raivata presided over the third Round and was its roo/-Manu. 

Raja (Sk,). A Prince or King in India. 

Rfijagriha (Sk.). A city in Magadha famous for its conversion to 
Buddhism in the days of the Buddliist kings. It was their residence 
from Bimbisara to Asoka, and was the seat of the first Synod, or 
Buddhist Council, held 510 b.c. 



GLOSSARY 275 

Rfijfipshis (Sk.). The King-Rishis or King-Adepts, one of the three 
classes of Rishis in India; the same as the King-Hierophants of ancient 
Egypt. 

RSJaa (Sk.). The "quality of foulness" {i.e., differentiation), and 
activity in the Purdnas. One of the three Gutias or divisions in the correla- 
tions of matter and nature, representing form and change. 

RajaBas (Sk.j. The elder Agnishwattas — the Fire-Pitris, "fire" 
standing as a symbol of enlightenment and intellect. 

Raja- Yoga (Sk.J. The true system of developing psychic and spiritual 
powers and union with one's Higher Self—ov the Supreme Spirit, as the 
profane express it. The exercise, regulation and concentration of 
thought. Raja-Yoga is opposed to Hatha-Yoga, the physical or psycho- 
physiological training in asceticism. 

R&kfi, (Sk.J. The day of the full moon : a day for occult practices. 

RlikBh& (Sk.J. An amulet prepared during the full or new moon. 

R&kshasas (Sk.j. Lit., " raw eaters ", and in the popular superstition 
evil spirits, demons. Esoteric ally, however, they are the Cibborim 
(giants) of the Bible, the Fourth Race or the Atlanteans. {See Stent 
Doctrine, II., 165.) 

R&kBtaasi-Bh&shS. (Sk.). Lit., the language of the Riikshasas. In 
reality, the speech of the Atlanteans, our gigantic forefathers of the 
fourth Root-race. 

Ram Hohum Roy (Sk.). The well-known Indian reformer who came 
to England in 1833 and died there. 

R&ma (Sk.). The seventh avatar or incarnation of Vishnu ; the 
eldest son of King Dasaratha, of the Solar Race. His full name is 
Rama-Chandra, and he is the hero of the lidmiiyana. He married Sita, 
who was the female avatar of Lakshmi, Vishnu's wife, and was carried 
away by R^vana the Demon-King of Lanka, which act led to the 
famous war. 

R&m&yana (Sk.). The famous epic poem collated with the Makabhdrata. 
It looks as if this poem was either the original of the IHad or vice vend, 
except that in Rdmdyana the allies of Rama are monkeys, led by 
Hanuman, and monster birds and other animals, all of whom fight 
against the Rdkshasas, or demons and giants o( Lankik. 

Rasa (Sk.), The mystery-dance performed by Krishna and his Gopis, 
the shepherdesses, represented in a yearly festival to this day, especially in 
Rijastan. Astronomically it is Krishna — the Sh» — around whom circle 
the planets and the signs of the Zodiac symbolised by the Go/f's. The 
same as the " circle-dance " of the Amazons around the priapic image, 
and the dance of the daughters of Shiloh {Judges xxi.), and that of 



276 THEOSOPHICAL 

King David around the ark. (See his Unveiled^ II., pp. 45, 331 and 

332.) 

Rashi (Sh.), An astrological division, the sixth, relating to Kanya 
(Virgo) the sixth sign in the Zodiac. 

Rashi-Chakra (Sk,), The Zodiac. 

Rasit (Heh.). Wisdom. 

RasoUasa (Sk.). The first of the eight physical perfections, or Siddhis 
(phenomena), of the Hatha Yogis. Rasollasa is the prompt evolution at 
will of the juices of the body independently of any nutriment from without. 

Rasshoo (Eg,), The solar fires formed in and out of the primordial 
** waters ", or substance, of Space. 

Ratnavabhasa Kalpa (Sk,), The age in which all sexual difference 
will have ceased to exist, and birth will take place in the Anupddaka mode, 
as in the second and third Root-races. Esoteric philosophy teaches 
that it will take place at the end of the sixth and during the seventh and 
last Root-race in this Round. 

Ratri (Sk,), Night ; the body Brahma assumed for purposes of 
creating the Rakshasas or alleged giant-demons. 

Raumasa {Sk,), A class of devas (gods) said to have originated from 
the pores of Verabhadra's skin. An allusion to the pre- A damic race called 
the ** sweat-born '\ (Secret Doctrine, Vol. II.) 

Ravail. The true name of the Founder of modern Spiritism in 
France, who is better known under the pseudonym ol Allan Kardec. 

Rayana (Sk,). The King- Demon (the Rakshasas), the Sovereign of 
Lanka (Ceylon), who carried away Sita, Rdma's wife, which led to the 
great war described in the Rdmdyana, 

Ravi (Sk,), A name of the Sun. 

Reohaka (Sk,), A practice in Hatha Yoga, during the performance 
of Pranayama or the regulation of breath : namely, that of opening one 
nostril and emitting breath therefrom, and keeping the other closed; one 
of the three operations respectively called Puraka, Kumbhaka and 
Rechaka — operations very pernicipus to health. 

Red Colour. This has always been associated with male charac- 
teristics, especially by the Etruscans and Hindoos. In Hebrew it is 
Adam, the same as the word for ** earth " and ** the first man*'. It seems 
that nearly all myths represent the first perfect man as white.^ The 
same word without the initial A is Dam or Dem, whicli means Blood, 
also of red colour, [w.w.w.] 

The colour of the fourth Principle in man — Kdma, the seat of desires 
is represented red. 



GLOSSARY 277 

Rein cam ati on. The doctrine of rebirth, believed in by Jesus and the  
Apostles, as by all men in those days, but denied now by the Christians, 
All the Egyptian converts to Christianity, Church Fathers and others, 
believed in this doctrine, as shown by the writings of several. In the 
still existing symbols, the human-headed bird flying towards a mummy, 
a body, or "the soul uniting itself with its saAoM (glorified body of the Ego, 
and also the kAmalokic skill) proves this belief. " The song of the 
Resurrection " chanted by Isis to recall her dead husband to hfe, might 
be translated " Song of Rebirth", as Osiris is collective Humanity. "Oh! 
Osiris [here follows the name of the Osirified mummy, or the departed] , 
rise again in holy earth (matter), august mummy in the coffin, under 
thy corporeal substances ", was the funeral prayer of the priest over the 
deceased. " Resurrection " with the Egyptians never meant the resur- 
rection of the mutilated mummy, but of the Soul that informed it, the Ego 
in a new body. The putting on of flesh periodically by the Soul or the 
Ego, was a universal belief; nor can anything be more consonant with 
justice and Karmic law. {See " Pre-existence ".) 

Rekh-get-Amen (Eg-)- The name of the priests, hierophants, and 
teachers of Magic, who, according to Lenormant, Maspero, the Cham- 
pollions, etc., etc, "could levitate, walk the air, live under water, 
sustain great pressure, harmlessly suffer mutilation, read the past, 
foretell the future, make themselves invisible, and cure diseases"(Bonwick, 
Religion of Magic)- And the same author adds: "Admission to the 
mysteries did not confer magical powers. These depended upon two 
things : the possession of innate capacities, and the knowledge of certain 
formula employed under suitable circumstances ". Just the same as it 



Rephaim fHcb.). Spectres, phantoms. (Secret Doctrine, II., 279.) 

Reaha-havurah ('H*t., Kab.J. Lit., the "White Head", from which 
flows the fiery fluid of life and intelligence in three hundred and seventy 
streams, in all the directions of the Universe. The " White Head " is the 
first Sephira, the Crown, or first active hght. 

Reaohlin, yohn. Nicknamed the " Father of the Reformation "; the 
friend of Pico di Mirandoia, the teacher and instructor of Erasmus, of 
Luther and Melancthon, He was a great Kabbalist and Occultist. 

Rig Veda (Sk.)- The first and most important of the four Vedas. 
Fabled to have been "created" from the Eastern mouth of Brahmft; 
recorded in Occultism as iiaving been delivered by great sages on 
Lake Man(a)saravara beyond the Himalayas, dozens of thousands of 
years ago. 

Rik (Sk.). A verse of Rig-Vtda. 



278 THE.OSOPHICAL 

Riksha (Sk.). Each of the twenty-seven constellations forming the 
Zodiac. Any fixed star, or constellation of stars, 

RimmOD (Heh.). A Pomegranate, the type of abundant fertility ; occurs 
in the Old Testament; it figures in Syrian temples and was deified there, 
as an emblem of the celestial prolific mother of all ; also a type of the 
full womb, [w.w.w.] 

Rings, Ha^€. These existed as talismans in every folk-lore. In 
Scandinavia such rings are always connected with the elves and dwarfs 
who were alleged to be the possessors of talismans and who gave them 
occasionally to human beings whom they wished to protect. In the 
words of the chronicler : " These magic rings brought good luck to the 
owner so long as they were carefully preserved ; but their loss was 
attended with terrible misfortunes and unspeakable misery". 

RingB and Roands. Terms employed by Theosophists in explana- 
tion of Eastern cosmogony, They are used to denote the various 
evolutionary cycles in the Elemental. Mineral, Sec, Kingdoms, through 
which the Monad passes on any one globe, the term Round being used 
only to denote the cyclic passage of the Monad round the complete chain 
of seven globes. Generally spealting, Theosophists use the term ring as 
a synonym of cycles, whether cosmic, geological, metaphysical or any 
other. 

RipbeeoB (Gr.), In mythology a mountain chain upon which slept 
the frozen-hearted god of snows and hurricanes. In Esoteric philosophy 
a real prehistoric continent which from a tropical ever sunlit land has 
now become a desolate region beyond the Arctic Circle. 

Rishabha (Sk.J. A sage supposed to have been the first teacher of 
the Jain doctrines in India. 

Rishabbam (Sk.). The Zodiacal sign Taurus. 

Risbi-Prs^'ipati (Sk.J. Lit., ■' revealers ", holy sages in the religious 
history of Aryavarla. EsotericalEy the highest of them are the Hierarchies 
of"Builders" and Architects of the Universe and ofliving things on 
earth; they are generally called Dhyan Chohans, Devas and gods. 

BisbiB (Sk.). Adepts ; the inspired ones. In Vedic literature the term 
is employed to denote those persons through whom the various Mantras 
were revealed. 

Rl-thlen. Lit., " snake-keeping ". It is a terrible kind of sorcery 
practised at Cherrapoonjee in the Khasi-Hills. The former is the ancient 
capital of the latter. As the legend tells us: ages ago a. thUn 
(serpent -dragon) which inhabited a cavern and devoured men and cattle 
was put to death by a local St. George, and cut to pieces, every piece 
being sent out to a different district to be burnt. But the piece received 



GLOSSARY 279 

by the Khasis was presented by them and became a kind of household 
god, and their descendants developed into Ri-thlens or " snake- 
keepers '■, for the piece they preserved grew into a dragon (lliUii) and 
ever since has obsessed certain Brahmin families of that district. To acquire 
the good grace of their Men and save their own lives, these " keepers " 
have often to commit murders of women and children, from whose 
bodies they cut out the toe and finger nails, which they bring to their 
tliUii, and thus indulge in a number of black magic practices connected 
with sorcery and necromancy. 

Soger Bacon. A very famous Franciscan monk who lived in England 
in the thirteenth century. He was an Alchemist who firmly believed in 
the existence of the Philosopher's Stone, and was a great mechanician, 
chemist, physicist and astrologer. In his treatise on the Admirabli Force 
of Art and Naturi, he gives hints about gunpowder and predicts the use of 
steam as a propelling power, describing besides the hydraulic press, the 
diving-bell and tlie kaleidoscope. He also made a famous brazen head 
fitted with an acoustic apparatus whicb gave out oracles. 

Ro and Rn (Eg.). Tlie gate or outlet, the spot in the heavens whence 
proceeded or was born primeval light; synonymous with "cosmic 
womb '", 

Rohlttilfi (Sk.). The ancient name of a monastery visited by Buddha 
Sakyamuni, now called Roynallah, near Balgada, in Eastern Behar. 

Rohit (Sk.). A female deer, a hind ; the form assumed by Vach {the 
female Logos and female aspect of Brahmii, who created her out of one 
half of his body) to escape the amorous pursuits of her "fath';r", who 
transformed himself for that purpose into a buck or red deer (the colour 
of Brahma being red). 

Rohitaka Stupa (Sk.). The "red stupa", or dagoba, built by King 
Asoka, and on which Maitribala-rajA fed starving Yakshas with his blood. 
The Yakshas are inoffensive demons ( Element a ries) called fynya-janas or 
"good people". 

RosiorUDians (Mjis.j. The name was first given to the disciples of a 
learned Adept named Christian Rosenkreuz, who flourished in Germany, 
circa 1460. He founded an Order of mystical students whose early 
history is to be found in the German work, Fama Fraternitatis {1614), 
which has been published in several languages. The members of the 
Order maintained their secrecy, but traces of them have been found in 
various places every half century since these dates. The Societas 
Roiicrttciana in Angii'a is a Masonic Order, which has adopted membership 
in the "outer"; the Chabrath Zereh Aur Bokher, or Order of the G. D., 
which has a very complete scheme of initiation into the Kabbalah and 
the Higher Magic of the Western or Hermetic type, and admits both 



28o THEOSOPHICAL 

sexes, is a direct descendant from medieval sodalities of RosicniciBiis, 

themselves descended from the Egyptian Mysteries, [w.w.w.] 

Boston. Book of the Mysteries of Rostan ; an occult work in 
manuscript. 

Bowbanee (Eg.) or Er-Roohanee. Is the Magic of modern Egypt, 
supposed to proceed from Angels and Spirits, that is Genii, and by the use 
of the mystery names of Allah ; they distinguish two forms— Ilwee, that 
is the Higher or White Magic ; and SufJee and Sheytanee, the Lower or 
Black Demoniac Magic, There is also Hs-Seeniuja, which is deception 
or conjuring. Opinions differ as to the importance of a brancli of Magic 
called Darb el Mendel, or as Barker calls it in English, the Mendal : by 
this is meant a form of artificial clair\'Oyance, exhibited by a young 
boy before puberty, or a virgin, who, as the result of self-fascination 
by gazing on a pool of ink in the hand, with coincident use of incense 
and incantation, sees certain scenes of real life passing over its surface. 
Many Eastern travellers have narrated instances, as E. W. Lane in his 
Modtrn Egyptians and his Thousand and Om Nights, and E. B. Barker; 
the incidents have been introduced also into many works of fiction, such 
as Marryat's Phantom Ship, and a similar idea is interwoven with the 
story of Rose Mary and the Beryl stone, a poem by Rossetti. For a super- 
ficial attempt at explanation, see the QuaHirly Review, No. 117. [w.w.w.] 

Ruaoh (Heb.). Air, also Spirit; the Spirit, one of the "human 
principles" (Buddhl-Manas). 

Ruaoh Elohim (Heb.). The Spirit of the gods; corresponds to the 
Holy Ghost of the Christians. Also the wind, breath and rushing 
water, [w.w.w.] 

Rudra (Sk.). A title of Siva, the Destroyer. 

Budraa (Sk.). The mighty ones ; the lords of the three upper worlds. 
One of the classes of the " fallen " or incarnating spirits; they are alt 
born of Brahma. 

Rones (Scand.). The Runic language and characters are the mystery 
or sacerdotal tongue and alphabet of the ancient Scandinavians. Runts 
are derived from the word rAna (secret). Therefore both language and 
character could neither be understood nor interpreted without having the 
key to it. Hence while the written runes consisting of sixteen letters are 
known, the ancient ones composed of marks and signs are indecipherable. 
They are called the magic characters. " It is clear ", says E. W. 
Anson, an authority on the folk-lore. of the Norsemen, "that the runes 
were from various causes regarded even in Germany proper as full of 
mystery and endowed with supernatural power ". They are said to have 
been invented by Odin, 



GLOSSARY 281 



Rfipa (Sk,). Body ; any form, applied even to the forms of the gods, 
which are subjective to us. 

Rata (Sk,). The name of one of the last islands of Atlantis, which 
perished ages before Poseidonis^ the ** Atlantis " of Plato. 

Rutas (Sk.), An ancient people that inhabited the above island or 
continent in the Pacific Ocean. 



282 TheosophicaL 



s. 

O, — The nineteenth letter; numerically, sixty. In Hebrew it is the 
fifteenth letter, Sanuchy held as holy because " the sacred name of god is 
Samech ". Its symbol is a prop, or a pillar, and a phallic egg. In occult 
geometry it is represented as a circle quadrated by a cross, ©. In 
the Kabbalah the ** divisions of Gan-Eden or paradise " are similarly 
divided. 

Sa or Hea (Chald,). The synthesis of the seven Gods in Babylonian 
mythology. 

Sabalaswas (Sk.), Sons of Daksha (Secret Doctrine , II., 275 j. 

Sabao (Gr,). The Gnostic name of the genius of Mars. 

Sabaoth (Heb.J, An army or host, from Sab A — to go to war ; hence 
the name of the fighting god — the ** Lord of Sabaoth ". 

Sabda (Sk.), The Word, or Logos. 

Sabda BrsJunam (Sk.J. "The Unmanifested Logos." The Vedas; 
** Ethereal Vibrations diffused throughout Space **. 

Sabh§. (Sk.J. An assembly ; a place for meetings, social or political. 
Also Mahdsabhdy ** the bundle of wonderful (mayavic or illusionary) things " 
the gift of Mayasur to the Pandavas (Mahdbhdrata.) 

Sabianism. The religion of the ancient Chaldees. The latter believ- 
ing in one impersonal, universal, deific Principle, never mentioned It, 
but offered worship to the solar, lunar, and planetary gods and rulers, 
regarding the stars and other celestial bodies as their respective symbols. 

Sabians. Astrolaters, so called ; those who worshipped the stars, or 
rather their " regents ". (See ** Sabianism ".) 

Saoha Kiriya (Sk.). A power with the Buddhists akin to a magic 
mantram with the Brahmans. It is a miraculous energy which can be 
exercised by any adept, whether priest or layman, and ** most efficient when 
accompanied by bhdwand " (meditation). It consists in a recitation of 
one's ** acts of merit done either in this or some former birth " — as the 
Rev. Mr. Hardy thinks and puts it, but in reality it depends on the 
intensity of one's will, added to an absolute faith in one's own powers, 
whether of yoga — willing — or of prayer, as in the case of Mussulmans 
and Christians. Sacha means ** true ", and Kiriyang, ** action *'. It is the 
power of merits or of a saintly life. 



CLOSSAkY 2^3 

SaoFariam (Lat,), The name of the room in the houses of the 
ancient Romans, which contained the particular deity worshipped by the 
family ; also the adytum of a temple. 

Saored Heart. In Egypt, of Horus ; in Babylon, of the god Bel ; and 
the lacerated heart of Bacchus in Greece and elsewhere. Its symbol 
was the pcrsea. The pear-like shape of its fruit, and of its kernel espe- 
cially, resembles the heart in form. It is sometimes seen on the head 
of I sis, the mother of Horus, the fruit being cut open and the heart-like 
kernel exposed to full view. The Roman Catholics have since adopted 
the worship of the ** sacred heart " of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary. 

Saored Soienoe. The name given to the inner esoteric philosophy, the 
secrets taught in days of old to the initiated candidates, and divulged 
during the last and supreme Initiation by the Hierophants. 

Sadaikarfipa (Sk,), The essence of the immutable nature. 

Sadduoees. A sect, the followers of one Zadok, a disciple of Anti- 
gonus Saccho. They are accused of having denied the immortality of 
the (personal) soul and that of the resurrection of the (physical and per- 
sonal) body. Even so do the Theosophists ; though they deny neither 
the immortality of the Ego nor the resurrection of all its numerous and 
successive lives, which survive in the memory of the Ego. But together 
with the Sadducees — a sect of learned philosophers who were to all the 
other Jews that which the polished and learned Gnostics were to the 
rest of the Greeks during the early centuries of our era — we certainly 
deny the immortality of the animal soul and the resurrection of the 
physical body. The Sadducees were the scientists and the learned men of 
Jerusalem, and held the highest offices, such as of high priests and judges, 
while the Pharisees were almost from first to last the Pecksniffs of Judaea. 

Sadhyas (Sk,). One of the names of the ** twelve great gods " created 
by Brahma. Kosmic gods ; lit.^ " divine sacrificers ". The Sidhyas are 
important in Occultism. 

Sadik. The same as the Biblical Melchizedec, identified by the mystic 
Bible- worshippers with Jehovah, and Jesus Christ. But Father Sadik's 
identity with Noah being proven, he can be further identified with 
Kronos- Saturn. 

Safekh (Eg.). Written also Sehek and Sehakhy god of darkness and 
night, with the crocodile for his emblem. In the Typhonic legend and 
transformation he is the same as Typhon. He is connected with both 
Osiris and Horus, and is their great enemy on earth. We find him often 
called the ** triple crocodile *'. In astronomy he is the same as Mik&ra 
or Capricorn, the most mystical of the signs of the Zodiac. 

Saga (Scand.). The goddess *' who sings of the deeds of gods and 



84 THEOSOPHICAL 

heroes *', and to whom the black ravens of Odin reveal the history of the 
Past and of the Future in the Norsemen's Edda. 

S&^ara (Sk.J, Lit.y ** the Ocean " ; a king, the father of 60,000 sons, 
who, for disrespect shown to the sage Kapila, were reduced to ashes by a 
single glance of his eye. 

Sagarda^an. One of the four paths to Nirvana. 

Saha (Sk,). "The world of suffering"; any inhabited world in the 
chilio-cosmos. 

Sahampati (Sk,). Maha or Parabrahm. 

Saharaksha (Sk,), The fire of the Asuras ; the name of a son of 
PavamAna, one of the three chief occult fires. 

Saint Martin, Louis Claude de. Born in France (Amboise), in 1743. 
A great mystic and writer, who pursued his philosophical and theosophi- 
cal studies at Paris, during the Revolution. He was an ardent disciple 
of Jacob Boehme, and studied under Martinez Paschalis, finally founding 
a mystical semi- Masonic Lodge, " the Rectified Rite of St. Martin ", with 
seven degrees. lie was a true Theosophist. At the present moment 
some ambitious charlatans in Paris are caricaturing him and passing 
themselves off as initiated Martinists, and thus dishonouring the name of 
the late Adept. 

Sais (Eg.), The place where the celebrated temple of Isis-Neith 
was found, wherein was the ever-veiled statue of Neith (Neith and Isis 
being interchangeable), with the famous inscription, ** I am all that has 
been, and is, and shall be, and my peplum no mortal has withdrawn **. 
(See " Sirius ".) 

SnkeL (Sk,). Lit., ** the One", or the Eka; used of the "Dragon of 
Wisdom " or the manifesting deities, taken collectively. 

Saka (Sk,), According to the Orientalists the same as the classical 
Saca. It is during the reign of their King Yudishtira that the Kali Yuga 
began. 

S&ka Dwipa (Sk,), One of the seven islands or continents mentioned 
in the Purdnas (ancient works). 

Sakkayaditthi. Delusion of personality; the erroneous idea that 
** / am I ", a man or a woman with a special name, instead of being 
an inseparable part of the whole. 

Sakrada^amin (Sk,). Lit,, ** he who will receive birth (only) once 
more " before Nirvana is reached by him ; he who has entered the 
second of the four paths which lead to Nirvana and has almost reached 
perfection. 

Sakshi (Sk.), The name of the hare, who in the legend of the '' moon 



GLOSSARY 285 

and the hare " threw himself into the fire to save some starving pilgrims 
who would not kill him. For this sacrifice Indra is said to have trans- 
ferred him to the centre of the moon. 

Sakti (Sk.J, The active female energy of the gods ; in popular Hin- 
duism, their wives and goddesses ; in Occultism, the crown of the astral 
light. Force and the six forces of nature synthesized. Universal Energy. 

Sakti-Dhara (Sk.J, Lit,, the ** Spear-holder", a title given to Karti- 
keya for killing Taraka, a Daitya or giant-demon. The latter, demon 
though he was, seems to have been such a great Yogin, owing to his 
religious austerities and holiness, that he made all the gods tremble 
before him. This makes of Kartikeya, the war god, a kind of St. Michael. 

Sakwala. This is a bana or ** word " uttered by Gautama 
Buddha in his oral instructions. Sakwala is a mundane, or rather a 
solar system, of which there is an infinite number in the universe, and 
which denotes that space to which the light of every sun extends. Each 
Sakwala contains earths, hells and heavens (meaning good and bad 
spheres, our earth being considered as hell, in Occultism) ; attains its 
prime, then falls into decay and is finally destroyed at regularly recurring 
periods, in virtue of one immutable law. Upon the earth, the Master taught 
that there have been already four great ** continents " (the Land of the Gods, 
Lemuria, Atlantis, and the present ** continent " divided into five parts 
of the Secret Doctrine), and that three more have to appear. The former 
** did not communicate with each other", a sentence showing that Buddha 
was not speaking of the actual continents known in his day (for Pdtdla 
or America was perfectly familiar to the ancient Hindus), but of the four 
geological formations of the earth, with their four distinct root-xdices which 
had already disappeared. 

Sakya (Sk,), A patronymic of Gautama Buddha. 

Sakyamuni Buddha (SL), A name of the founder of Buddhism, the 
great Sage, the Lord Gautama. 

Salamanders. The Rosicrucian name for the Elementals of Fire. 
The animal, as well as its name, is of most occult significance, 
and is widely used in poetry. The name is almost identical in all 
languages. Thus, in Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, etc., it is 
Salamandra^ in Persian Samandel\ and in Sanskrit Salamandala, 

Salmali (SkJ. One of the seven zones ; also a kind of tree. 

Sama (Sk.J, One of the bhdva pushpaSy or "flowers of sanctity". 
Sama is the fifth, or " resignation ". There are eight such flowers, 
namely : clemency or charity, self-restraint, affection (or love for others), 
patience, resignation, devotion, meditation and veracity. Sama is also 
the repression of any mental perturbation. 



286 THEOSOPHICAL 

S&ma Yeda (Sk,), Lit., ** the Scripture, or Shastra, of peace ". One 

of the four Vedas. 

Sam&dh&na (Sk,), That state in which a Yogi can no longer diverge 
from the path of spiritual progress ; when everything terrestrial, except 
the visible body, has ceased to exist for him. 

Eteunadhi (Sk.). A state of ecstatic and complete trance. The term 
comes from the words Sam-ddha, ** self-possession ". He who possesses 
this power is able to exercise an absolute control over all his faculties, 
physical or mental ; it is the highest state of Yoga. 

Sam&dhindriya (Sk.), Lit., ** the root of concentration " ; the fourth 
of the five roots called Pancha Indriyani, which are said in esoteric 
philosophy to be the agents in producing a highly moral life, leading 
to sanctity and liberation ; when these are reached, the two spiritual roots 
lying latent in the body (Atmit and Buddhi) will send out shoots and 
blossom. Samddhindriya is the organ of ecstatic meditation in Raj-yoga 
practices. 

Samael (Heh.). The Kabbalistic title of the Prince of those evil 
spirits who represent incarnations of human vices ; the angel of Death. 
From this the idea of Satan has been evolved, [w.w.w.] 

Samajna (Sk.). Lit., ** an enlightened (or luminous) Sage ". Trans- 
lated verbally, Samgharana Samajna, the famous Vihara near Kustana 
(China), means ** the monastery of the luminous Sage ". 

Samana (Sk.). One of the five breaths (Prdnas) which carry on the 
chemical action in the animal body. 

S&manera. A novice ; a postulant for the Buddhist priesthood. 

Samanta Bhadra (Sk.). Lit., ** Universal Sage ". The name of one 
of the four Bodhisattvas of the Yogachiirya School, of the Mahayana (the 
Great Vehicle) of Wisdom of that system. There are four terrestrial 
and three celestial Bodhisattvas : the first four only act in the present 
races, but in the middle of the fifth Root-race appeared the fifth 
Bodhisattva, who, according to an esoteric legend, was Gautama Buddha, 
but who, having appeared too early, had to disappear bodily from the 
world for a while. 

Samanta Prabhasa f 5^./ L//., ** universal brightness" or dazzling 
light. The name imdcr which each of the 500 perfected Arhats reappears 
on earth as Buddha. 

Samanya (Sk.), Community, or commingling of qualities, an abstract 
notion of genus, such as humanity. 

Sam&patti (Sk.), Absolute concentration in Raja- Yoga ; the process 
of development by which perfect indifference (Sams) is reached {apatti). 



GLOSSARY 287 

This state is the last stage of development before the possibility of 
entering into Samidhi is reached. 

Samaya (Sk.). A religious precept. 

S'ambhala (Sk.), A very mysterious locality on account of its future 
associations. A town or village mentioned in the Purdnas, whence, it is 
prophesied, the Kalki Avatar will appear. The ** Kalki " is Vishnu, the 
Messiah on the White Horse of the Brahmins ; Maitreya Buddha of the 
Buddhists, Sosiosh of the Parsis, and Jesus of the Christians (See 
Revelations), All these ** messengers " are to appear ** before the 
destruction of the world ", says the one; before the end of Kali Yuga say 
the others. It is in S'ambhala that the future Messiah will be born. 
Some OrientaHsts make modern Muradabid in Rohilkhand (N.W.P.) 
identical with S'ambhala, while Occultism places it in the Himalayas. 
It is pronounced Shamhhala, 

Sambhogak&ya (Sk.), • One of the three ** Vestures " of glory, or 
bodies, obtained by ascetics on the *' Path *'. Some sects hold it as the 
second, while others as the third of the BuddJiakshetras^ or forms of 
Buddha. Lit,^ the ** Body of Compensation " (See Voice of the 
Silence y Glossary iii). Of such BuddhaksMtras there are seven, those 
of Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya and Dharmakaya, belonging to the 
Trikdya^ or three-fold quality. 

Samgha (Sk,), The corporate assembly, or a quorum of priests ; 
called also Bhikshu Samgha ; the word ** church '* used in translation 
does not at all express the real meaning. 

Samkhara (Pali), One of the five Skandhas or attributes in Buddhism, 

Samkhara (Pali), ** Tendencies of mind " (See ** Skandhas "). 

Samma Sambuddha (Pali), The recollection of all of one's past 
incarnations ; a yoga phenomenon. 

Samma Sambuddha (Pali), A title of the Lord Buddha, the 
** Lord of meekness and resignation " ; it means ** perfect illumination ". 

Samothraoe (Gr,), An island famous for its Mysteries, perhaps the 
oldest ever established in our present race. The Samothracian 
Mysteries were renowned all over the world. 

Samothraces (^Gr.j. A designation . of the Five gods worshipped at 
the island of that name during the Mysteries. They are considered as 
identical with the Cabeiri, Dioscuri and Corybantes. Their names 
were mystical, denoting Pluto, Ceres or Proserpine, Bacchus and 
iEsculapius, or Hermes. 

Sampajn&na (Sk.). A power of internal illumination. 
Samsk&pa (Sk.). Lit., from Sam and Kri^ to improve, refine, impress. 
In Hindu philosophy the term is used to denote the impressions left upon 



388 TKEOSOPHICAL 



the mind bj' indi\idual actions or external circumstances, and capable of 
being developed on any future favourable occasion — even in a future 
birth. The Samskara denotes, therefore, the germs of propensities and 
impulses from previous births to be developed in this, or the coming 
fanmiis or reincarnations. In Tibet. Samikdra is called Doodyed, and in 
China is defined as, or at least connected with, action or Karma. It is, 
strictly speaking, a metaphysical term, which in exoteric philosophies is 
variously defined ; e.g., in Nepaul as illusion, in Tibet as notion, and in 
Ceyton as discrimination. The true meaning is as given above, and as 
such is connected with Kanna and its working. 

Samtan (Tib.). The same as DhyAna or meditation. 

Samvara (Sk.). A deity worshipped by the Tantrikas. 

SamYarta (Sk.). A minor Kalpa. A period in creation after which 
a partial annihilation of the world occurs. 

Samyartta Kalpa (Sk.). The Kalpa or period of destruction, the 
same as Pralava. Every root-race and sub-race is subject to such 
Kalpas of destruction ; the fifth root-race having sixty-four such ca- 
taclysms periodically; namely: fifty-six by fire, seven by water, and 
one small Kalpa by winds or cyclones. 

Samvat (Sk.). The name of an Indian chronological era, supposed 
to have commenced fifty-seven years B.C. 

Samyriti (Sk.). False conception — the origin of illusion. 

Bamyritisatya (Sk.). Truth mixed with false conceptions (Samvriti) ; 
the reverse of absolute truth — or Paramdrihasatya, self- consciousness in 
absolute truth or reality. 

Samya^^iya (Sk.). Mendicancy for religious purposes : the correct 
profession. It is the fourth Mirga (path), the vow of poverty, obhgatory 
on every Arhat and monk. 

Samyagdriflhti (Sk.J. The abihty to discuss truth. The first of the 
eight Miir^as (paths) of the ascetic. 

Samyakkarmanta (Sk.). The last of the eight Margas. Strict 
purity and observance of honesty, disinterestedness and unselfishness, 
the characteristic of everj' Arhat. 

Samyaksamadhi (Sk.). Absolute mental coma. The sixth of the 
eight Margas ; the full attainment of Samidhi. 

Samyakaambaddlia (Sk.) or Sammasambuddka, as pronounced in 
Ceylon. Lit., the Buddha of correct and harmonious knowledge, 
and the third of the ten titles of S4kyamuni. 

Samyattaka Nikaya (Pali). A Buddhist work composed mostly of 
dialogues between Buddha and his disciples, 



GLOSSARY 289 

Sana (Sk,), One of the three esoteric Kum^ras, whose names are 
Sana, Kapila and Sanatsujata, the mysterious triad which contains the 
mystery of generation and reincarnation. 

Sana or Sanaischara (Sk,). The same as Sani or Saturn the planet. 
In the Hindu Pantheon he is the son of Surya, the Sun, and of Sanjna, 
Spiritual Consciousness, who is the daughter of Visva-Karman, or rather 
of Chhaya, the shadow left behind by Sanjna. Sanaischara, the ** slow- 
moving ". 

Sanaka (Sk.). A sacred plant, the fibres of which are woven into 
yellow robes for Buddhist priests. 

Sanat Kum&ra (Sk.). The most prominent of the seven Kum&ras, 
the Vaidhatra, the first of which are called Sanaka, Sananda, Sandtana, 
and Sanat Kum^ra ; which names are all significant qualifications of the 
degrees of human intellect. 

Sanat Suj&tiya (Sk.). A work treating of Krishna's teachings, such as 
in Bhagavad Gitd and Anugltd. 

Sanoha-Dwipa (Sk.). One of tlie seven great islands Sapta-Dwipa. 

Sanohoniathon (Gr.). A pre-christian writer on Phoenician Cos- 
mogony, whose works are no longer extant. Philo Byblus gives only the 
so-called fragments of Sanchoniathon. 

Sandalphon (Heb.). The Kabbalistic Prince of Angels, emblemati- 
cally represented by one of the Cherubim of the Ark. 

Sandhya (Sk.). A period between two Yugas, morning-evening ; 
anything coming between and joining two others. Lit., ** twilight " ; the 
period between a full Manvantara, or a " Day *', and a full Pralaya or a 
** Night "of** Brahma". 

Sandhyamsa (Sk.). A period following a Yuga. 

Sanghai Dag-po ( Tib.). The ** concealed Lord " ; a title of those who 
have merged into, and identified themselves with, the Absolute. Used of 
the ** Nirvanees" and the ** Jivanmuktas ". 

Sangye Khado (Sk.). The Queen of the Khado or female genii ; the 
Ddkini of the Hindus and the Lilitk of the Hebrews. 

Sanjna (Sk.). Spiritual Consciousness. The wife of Surya, the Sun. 

Sankara ^5^.;. The name of Siva. Also a great Vedantic 

philosopher. 

Sankhya (Sk.). The system of philosophy founded by Kapila Rishi, 
a system of analytical metaphysics, and one of the six DursJuinas or 
schools of philosophy. It discourses on numerical categories and the 
meaning of the twenty-five tatwas (the forces of nature in various degrees). 
This ** atomistic school", as some call it, explains nature by the inter- 

T 



290 THEOSOPHICAL 

action of twenty-four elements with purusha (spirit) modified by the 
three gtinas (qualities), teaching the eternity of pradhana (primordial, 
homogeneous matter), or the self-transformation of nature and the eternity 
of the human Egos. 

S&nkhya Kfirikfi, (Sk.), A work by Kapila, containing his aphorisms. 

S&nkhya Yo^a (Sk,), The system of Yoga as set forth by the above 
school. 

Sanna (Pali), One of the five Skandhas, namely the attribute of 
abstract ideas. 

Sannyasi (Sk.), A Hindu ascetic who has reached the highest mystic 
knowledge; whose mind is fixed only upon the supreme truth, and who 
has entirely renounced everything terrestrial and worldly. 

Sansfira (Sk,), Lit,, ** rotation " ; the ocean of births and deaths. 
Human rebirths represented as a continuous circle, a wheel ever in motion. 

Sanskrit (Sk.), The classical language of the Brahmans, fuver known 
nor spoken in its true systematized form (given later approximately by P4nini), 
except by the initiated Brahmans, as it was pre-eminently ** a mystery 
language ". It has now degenerated into the so-called Prikrita. 

Santa (Sk,), Lit,, ** placidity ". The primeval quaHty of the latent, 
undifferentiated state of elementary matter. 

Santatih (Sk.). The ** offspring." 

Saphar (Heh.). Sepharim ; one of those called in the Kabbalah — 
Sepher, Saphar and Sipur, or ** Number, Numbers and Numbered ", by 
whose agency the world was formed. 

Sapta (Sk.), Seven. 

Sapta Buddhaka (Sk,). An account in Mahdniddna SUtra of Sapta 
Buddha, the seven Buddhas of our Round, of which Gautama Sakyamuni 
is esoterically the fifth, and exoterically, as a blind, the seventh. 

Sapta Samudra (Sk,), The " seven oceans ". These have an occult 
significance on a higher plane. 

Sapta Sindhaya (Sk,), The ** seven sacred rivers ". A Vedic term. 
In Zend works they are called Hapta Ileanio, These rivers are closely 
united with the esoteric teachings of the Eastern schools, having a very 
occult significance. 

Sapta Tathagata (Sk,), The chief seven Nirmdnakdyas among the 
numberless ancient world-guardians. Their names are inscribed on a 
heptagonal pillar kept in a secret chamber in almost all Buddhist temples 
in China and Tibet. The OrientaHsts arc wrong in thinking that these 
are ** the seven Buddhist substitutes for the Rishis of the Brahmans," 
(See "Tathagata-gupta"). 



GLOSSARY 



Saptadwipa (Sk.). The » 



□ sacred islands or "continents" in the 



Thes. 



1 higher regions, beginning from the earth 



Purii 

Saptaloka (Sl/.j. 
upwards, 

Saptapama (Sk.). The " sevenfold". A plant which gave its name 
to a famous cave, a Vihara, in R&jagriha, now near Buddhagaya, where 
the Lord Buddha used to meditate and teach his Arhats, and where after 
his death the first Synod was held. This cave had seven chambers, 
whence the name. In Esotericism Snptaparna is the symbol of the " seven- 
fold Man.Piant ". 

Saptarahi (Sk.). The seven Rishis. As stars they are the constella- 
tion of the Great Bear, and called as such the Rilaha and Chitra- 
sikhatidinas, briglit- crested. 

8ar or Saroi (Chald.). A Chaldean god from whose name, represented 
by a circular horizon, the Greeks borrowed their word Saws, the cycle. 

Baram& (Sk.). In the Vedas, the dog of Indra and mother of the two 
dogs called Siirameyas, Sarami is the " divine watchman " of the god 
and the same as he who watched " over the golden (lock of stars and 
solar rays"; the same as Mercury, the planet, and the Greek Hermes, 
called Sdrameyas. 

Saraph (Htb.). A flying serpent. 

SaraBVati (Sk.). The same as Vfich, wife and daughter of KrahmA, 
produced from one of the two halves of his body. She is the goddess of 
speech and of sacred or esoteric knowledge and wisdom. Also called Sfi. 

Baroophagas (Gr.). A stone tomb, a receptacle for the dead ; sarc= 
flesh, and phagtin = to eat. Lapis assius, the stone of which the sarcophagi 
were made, is found in Lycia, and has the property of consuming the 
bodies in a very few weeks. In Egypt sarcophagi were made of various 
other stones, of black basalt, red granite, alabaster and other materials, 
as they served only as outward receptacles for the wooden coffins 
containing the mummies. The epitaphs on some of them are as 
remarkable as they are highly etliical, and no Christian could wish for 
anything better. One epitaph, dating thousands of years before the year 
one of our modem era, reads :—" I have given water to him w!io was 
thirsty, and clothing to him who was naked. I have done harm to no 
man." Another ; " I have done actions desired by men and those which 
are commanded by the gods ". The beauty of some of these tombs may 
be judged by the alabaster sarcophagus of Oiinenephtliah 1., at Sir John 
Soane's Museum, Lincoln's Inn. " It was cut out of a single block of 
fine alabaster stone, and is 9 ft. 4 in. long, by 22 to 24 is. in width, and 
2j to 32 in. in height. . • . Engraved dots, etc., outside were oncQ 



292 THEOSOPHICAL 

filled with blue copper to represent the heavens. To attempt a descrip- 
tion of the wonderful figures inside and out is beyond the scope of this 
work. Much of our knowledge of the mythology of the people is derived 
from this precious monument, iinth its hundreds of figures to illustrate the 
last judgment, and the life beyond the grave. Gods, men, serj>ents, 
symbolical animals and plants are there most beautifully car\'ed." 
(Funeral Rites of the Egyptians.) 

Sargon (Chald,), A Babylonian king. The story is now found to 
have been the original of Moses and the ark of bulrushes in the Nile. 
Sarira (Sk,), Envelope or body. 

Sarisripa (Sk,). Serpents, crawling insects, reptiles, *' the infinite- 
simally small ". 

Sarka (Chald.). Lit., the light race ; that of the gods in contradis- 
tinction to the dark race called zahmat gagnadi, or the race that fell, i.e., 
mortal men. 

Sarpas (Sk.j. Serpents, whose king was Sesha, the serpent, or 
rather an aspect of Vishnu, who reigned in Patala. 

S&rpa-rajni (Sk,). The queen of the serpents in the Brdhmanas. 

Sarra Handala (Sk,) A name for the ** Egg of Brahma ". 

Sanrada (Sk.), Lit., ** all-sacrificing". A title of Buddha, who in 
a former Jiitaka (birth) sacrificed his kingdom, liberty, and even life, to 
save others. 

Sanraga (Sk.). The supreme " World-Substance ". 
SaPYatmfi (Sk.), Tiie supreme Soul ; the all-pervading Spirit. 
Sarvesha (Sk,), Supreme Being. Controller of every action and 
force in the universe. 

Sat (Sk.), The one ever-present Reality in the infinite world ; the 
divine essence which is, but cannot be said to exist, as it is Absoluteness, 
Be-ness itself. 

Sata rfipa (Sk,), The ** hundred-formed one " ; applied to Vich, who 
to be the female Brahma assumes a hundred forms, i.e.. Nature. 

Sail (Lg,), The triadic goddess, with Anouki of the Egyptian god 
Khnoum. 

Satt& (Sk.). The " one and sole Existence " — Brahma (neut.). 

Satti or Suttee, (Sk.), The burning of living widows together 
with their dead husbands — a custom now happily abolished in India ; 
lit., ** a chaste and devoted wife ". 

Sattva (Sk.). Understanding ; quiescence in divine knowledge. It 
follows generally the word Bodhi when used as a compound word, e.g.^ 
•* Bodhisattva ". 



GLOSSARY 393 

Sa.ttva or Satu/a, (Sk.). Goodness; tlie same as Saifra, or purity, one of 
the IrigUHas or tliree divisions of nature. 

Satya (Sk.). Supreme truth. 

Satya Loka (Sk.). The world of infinite purity and wisdom, the 
celestial abode of Brahma and the gods. 

Satya Yuga (Sk.). The golden age, or the age of truth and purity ; 
the first of the four Yugas, also called Krita Yuga. 

Satyas (Sk.). One of the names of the twelve great gods. 

Scarabseas. In Egypt, the symbol of resurrection, and also of rebirth ; 
of resurrection for the mummy or rather of the highest aspects of the 
personality which animated it, and of rebirth for the Ego, the "spiritual 
body '■ of the lower, liuntan Soul. Egyptologists give us but half of the 
truth, when in speculating upon the meaning of certain inscriptions, they 
say, " the justified soul, once arrived at a certain period of its peregrina- 
tions (simply at the death of the physical body) should be united to its 
body (i.e., the Ego) never more to be separated from it ". (Rouge.) What is 
this so-called body ? Can it be the mummy ? Certainly not, for the 
emptied mummified corpse can never resurrect. It can only be the 
eternal, spiritual vestment, the Ego that never dies but gives immor- 
tality to whatsoever becomes united with it. "The delivered Intelligence 
(which) retakes Its luminous envelope and (re)becomes DaTmon "', as 
Prof. Maspero says, is the spiritual Ego ; tlie personal Ego or Kdma- 
Manas, its direct ray, or the lower soul, is that which aspires to become 
Osirified, i.e., to unite itself with its " god " ; and that portion of il wliich 
will succeed in so doing, will never more be separated from it (the god), not 
even when the latter incarnates again and again, descending perijdically 
on earth in its pilgrimage, in search of further experiences and following 
the decrees of Karma. Khem, " the sower of seed", is shown on a stele in a 
picture of Resurrection after physical death, as the creator and the sower 
of the grain of corn, which, after corruption, springs up afresh each lime 
into a new ear, on which a scarabieus beetle is seen poised ; and Deveria 
shows very justly that " Ptah is the inert, material form of Osiris, who 
will become Sokari (the eternal Ego) to be reborn, and afterwards be 
Harraachus", or Horus in his transformation, the risen god. The prayer 
so often found in the tumular inscriptions, " the wish for the resurrection 
in one's living soui " or the Higher Ego, has ever a scarabieus at the end, 
standing for the personal soul. The scarabieus is the most honoured, as 
the most frequent and familiar, of all Egyptian symbols. No mummy is 
without several of them ; the favourite ornament on engravings, house- 
hold furniture and utensils is this sacred beetle, and Pierret pertinently 



^94 tHEOSOPHICAL 

shows in his Livre des Morts that the secret meaning of this hieroglyph is 
sufficiently explained in that the Egyptian name for the scarabaeus, 
Kheper^ signifies to he, to become, to build again, 

Soheo (Eg,), The god who, conjointly with Tefnant and Seb, 
inhabits Aanroo, the region called ** the land of the rebirth of the gods". 

Schesoo-Hor (Eg,), Lit,, the servants of Horus ; the early people 
who settled in Egypt and who were Aryans. 

Schools of the Prophets. Schools established by Samuel for the 
training of the Nahiim (prophets). Their method was pursued on the 
same lines as that of a Chela or candidate for initiation into the occult 
sciences, i,e,, the development of abnormal faculties or clairvoyance 
leading to Seership. Of such schools there were many in days of old in 
Palestine and Asia Minor. That the Hebrews worshipped Nebo, the 
Chaldean god of secret learning, is quite certain, since they adopted his 
name as an equivalent of Wisdom. 

Stance. A word which has come to mean with Theosophists and 
Spiritualists a sitting with a medium for phenomena, the materialisation 
of ** spirits " and other manifestations. 

Seb (Eg,), The Egyptian Saturn ; the father of Osiris and Isis. 
Esoterically, the sole principle before creation, nearer in meaning to 
Parabrahm than Brahma. From as early as the second Dynasty, there 
were records of him, and statues of Seb are to be seen in the museums 
represented with the goose or black swan that laid the Qgg of the world on 
his head. Nout or Neith, the ** Great Mother" and yet the " Immacu- 
late Virgin ", is Seb's wife ; she is the oldest goddess on record, and 
is to be found on monuments of the first dynasty, to which Mariette 
Bey assigns the date of almost 7000 years B.C. 

Secret Doctrine. The general name given to the esoteric teachings 
of antiquity. 

Sededa (Heb.), The Obeah woman of Endor. 

Seer. One who is a clairvoyant ; who can see things visible, and 
invisible — for others — at any distance and time with his spiritual or 
inner sight or perceptions. 

Seir Anpin, or Zauir Anpin (Heb,), In the Kabbalah, " the Son of the 
concealed Father ", he who unites in himself all the Sephiroth. Adam 
Kadmon, or the first manifested ** Heavenly Man *', the Logos. 

Sekhem (Eg,), The same as Sekten. 

Sekhet (Eg.), See " Pasht ". 

Sekten (Eg,), Dcvachan; the place of /(?5/ w/t^W^w/ reward, a state of 
bliss, not a locality. 



GLOSSARY 295 

Sena (Sk.). The female aspect or Sakti of Karttikeya ; also called 
Kauniara. 

SfltiseS' The ten organs of man. In the exoteric Pantheon and the 
allegories of the East, these are the emanations of ten minor gods, the 
terrestrial PrajiLpati or "progenitors". They are called in contradis- 
tinction to the five physical and the seven superphysical, the "elemen- 
tary senses ". In Occultism they are closely alhed with various forces of 
nature, and with our innn' organisms, called cells in physiology. 

Senzar. The mystic name for the secret sacerdotal language or the 
" Mystery-speech " of the initiated Adepts, all over the world, 

Sepher Sephirotll (Heb.). A Kahbalistic treatise concerniag the 
gradual evolution of Deity from negative repose to active emanation and 



Sepher Yetzirah (Heb.). "The Book of Formation", A very ancient 
Kahbalistic work ascribed to the patriarch Abraham. It illustrates the 
creation of the universe by analogy with the twenty-two letters of the 
Hebrew alphabet, distributed into a triad, a heptad, and a dodecad, cor- 
responding with the three mother letters, A, M, S, the seven planets, and 
the twelve signs of the Zodiac. It is written iu the Neo-Hebraic of the 
Mishnah. [w. w. w.] 

Sephira (Heb.) An emanation of Deity; the parent and synthesis 
of the ten Sephiroth when she stands at the head of the Sephirothal Tree ; 
in the Kabbalah, Sephira, or the " Sacred Aged ", is the divine Intelligence 
(the same as Sophia or Metis), the first emanation from the " Endless " 
or Ain-Suph. 

Sephiroth (Heb.). The ten emanations of Deity ; the highest is 
formed by the concentration of the Ain Soph Aur, or the Limitless 
Liglit, and each Sephira produces by emanation another Sephira. The 
names of the Ten Sephiroth are— I. Kether— The Crown ; 2. Chokmah 
— Wisdom; 3. Binah — Understanding; 4. Chesed — Mercy ; 5, Geburah 
— Power ; 6. Tipliereth — Beauty ; 7. Netzach — Victory ; 8. Hod- 
Splendour; 9. Jesod— Foundation ; and 10. Malkuth— The Kingdom. 

The conception of Deity embodied in the Ten Sephiroth is a very 
sublime one, and each Sephira is a picture to the Kabbalist of a group of 
exalted ideas, titles and attributes, which the name but faintly represents. 
Each Sephira is called either active or passive, tiiough tliis attribution 
may lead to error; passive does not mean a return to negative existence ; 
and the two words only express the relation between individual Sepliiroth, 
and not any absolute quality, [w.w.w,] 

Bepterium (Lat.), A great religious festival held in days of old every 
ninth year at Delphi, in honour of Helios, the Sun, or Apollo, to com- 



I 



296 THEOSOPHICAL 

memorate his triumph over darkness, or Python; Apollo- Python being 
the same as Osiris-Typhon in Egypt. 

Seraphim (Heb,), Celestial beings described by Isaiah (vi., 2,) as of 
human form with the addition of three pair of wings. The Hebrew 
word is ShRPIM, and apart from the above instance, is translated 
serpents, and is related to the verbal root ShRP, to burn up. The word 
is used for serpents in Numbers and Deuteronomy. Moses is said to 
have raised in the wilderness a ShRP or Seraph of Brass as a type. 
This bright serpent is also used as an emblem of Light. 

Compare the myth of iEsculapius, the healing deity, who is said to 
have been brought to Rome from Epidaurus as a serpent, and whose 
statues show him holding a wand on which a snake is twisted. (See Ovid, 
Metitm.j lib. xv.). The Seraphim of the Old Testament seem to be 
related to the Cherubim (q.v,). In the Kabbalah the Seraphim are a 
group of angelic powers allotted to the Sephira Geburah — Severity. 
[w.w.w.] 

Serapis (Eg,). A great solar god who replaced Osiris in the popular 
worship, and in whose honour the seven vowels were sung. He was 
often made to appear in his representations as a serpent, a " Dragon of 
Wisdom ". The greatest god of Egypt during the first centuries of 
Christianity. 

Sesha (Sk,) Ananta^ the great Serpent of Eternity, the couch of 
Vishnu ; the symbol of infinite Time in Space. In the exoteric beliefs 
Seshi is represented as a thousand -hesided and 5^r^«-headed cobra ; the 
former the king of the nether world, called P^t^la, the latter the 
carrier or support of Vishnu on the Ocean of Space. 

Set or Seth (Eg,), The same as the Son of Noah and Typhon — who is 
the dark side of Osiris. The same as Thoth and Satan, the adversary, 
not the devil represented by Christians. 

Sevekh (Eg,). The god of time ; Chronos ; the same as Sefckh. Some 
Orientalists translate it as the " Seventh ". 

Shaberon (Tib,), The Mongolian Shaberon or Khubilgan (or Khubil- 
khans) are the reincarnations of Buddha, according to the Lamai'sts ; 
great Saints and Avatars^ so to say. 

Shaddai, El (Heb,), A name of the Hebrew Deity, usually translated 
God Almighty, found in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Ruth and Job. Its 
Greek equivalent is Kurios Pantokrator ; but by Hebrew derivation it 
means rather ** the pourer forth ", shad meaning a breast, and indeed 
shdi is also used for ** a nursing mother ". [w.w.w.] 

Shamans. An order of Tartar or Mongolian priest-magicians, or 
as some say, priest-sorcerers. They are not Buddhists, but a sect of the 



GLOSSARY 397 

old Bhoit religion of Tibet, They live mostly in Siberia and its 
borderlands. Both men and women may be Shamans. They are all 
magicians, or rather sensitives or mediums artificially developed. At 
present those who act as priests among the Tartars are generally very 
ignorant, and far below the fakirs in knowledge and education. 

Shanah (Hcb). The Lunar Year. 

Slian^na (Sk.). A mysterious epithet given to a robe or " vesture " 
in a metaphorical sense. To put on the "Shangna robe" means 
the acquirement of Secret Wisdom, and Initiation. {See Voice of the 
Silence, pp. 84 and S3, Glossary.) 

Shastra or S'dstra (Sk.). A treatise or book ; any work of divine or 
accepted authority, including law books. A Shiistri means to this day, 
in India, a man learned in divine and human law. 

Sfaedini (Heb.). See " Siddim ". 

Shekinah (Heb.). A title applied to Malkuth. the tenth Sephira, by 
the Kabbalisls -. but by the Jews to the cloud of glory which rested on the 
Mercy-seat in the Holy of Holies, As taught, however, by all the 
Rabbins of Asia Minor, its nature is of a more exalted kind, Shekinah 
being the veil of Ain-Soph, the Endless and the Absolute ; hence a kind 
of Kabbalistic Mfllaprakriti. [w.w.w.] 

Sheila. A Kabbalistic name for the phantoms of the dead, the 
" spirits " of the Spiritualists, figuring in physical phenomena ; so named 
on account of their being simply illusive forms, empty of their higher 
principles. 

Shemal (Chald.), SamSel, the spirit of the earth, its presiding ruler 
and genius. 

Shemhamphorash (Heb.). The separated name. The mirific name 
derived from the substance of deity and showing its self-existent essence. 
Jesus was accused by the Jews of having stolen this name from the 
Temple by magic arts, and of using it in the production of his miracles, 

Sheol (Heb.). The hell of the Hebrew Pantheon ; a region of stillness 
and inactivity as distinguished from Gehenna, (q.v.). 

Bhien-Sien (Chin.). A state of bliss and soul-freedom, during which 
a man can travel in spirit where he likes. 

Shiitea (Pers.). A sect of Mussulmen who place the prophet Ali 
higher than Mohammed, rejecting Sunnah or tradition. 

Shila (Pall). The second virtue of the ten P&ramitis of perfection. 
Perfect harmony in words and acts. 

Shisto (Jctp-)- The ancient rehgion of Japan before Buddhism, based 
upon the worship of spirits and ancestors. 



I 



298 THEOSOPHICAL 

Shoel-ob (Ileb,), A consultcr with familiar " spirits " ; a necromancer, 
a raiser of the dead, or of their phantoms. 

Shoo (Eg,), A personification of the god Ra ; represented as the 

"great cat of the Basin of Persea in Anu". 

Shiidala Hfidan (lam,). The vampire, the ghoul, or graveyard spook. 

Shule M&dan (Tarn.), The elemental which is said to help the 
** jugglers" to grow mango trees and do other wonders. 

Shutukt (Tib.), A collegiate monastery in Tibet of great fame, con- 
taining over 30,000 monks and students. 

Sibac (Quiche), The reed from the pith of which the third race of men 
was created, according to the scripture of the Guatemalians, called the 
Popol Vuh. 

Sibika (Sk,), The weapon of Kuvera, god of wealth (a Vedic deity 
living in Hades, hence a kind of Pluto), made out of the parts of the divine 
splendour of Vishnu, residing in the Sun, and filed off by Visvarkarman, 
the god Initiate. 

Siddhanta (Sk,), Any learned work on astronomy or mathematics, in 
India. 

Siddh&rtha (Sk,). A name given to Gautama Buddha. 

Siddhas (Sk,). Saints and sages who have become almost divine 
also a liierarchy of Dliyan Chohans. 

Siddhasana (Sk.), A posture in Ilatha-yoga practices. 

Siddha-Sena (Sk,), Lit,, ** the leader of Siddhas" ; a title of Kartti- 
keya, the *' mysterious youtli " (kumora gulia), 

Siddhis f5A\/ Lit,, "attributes of perfection"; phenomenal powers 
acquired through holiness by Yogis. 

Siddim (Jleb.), The Canaanites, we are told, worshipped these evil 
powers as deities, the name meaning the " pourers forth " ; a valley was 
named after them. Tliere seems to be a connection between these, as 
types of Fertile Nature, and the many- bosomed Isis and Diana of 
Ephesus. In Psalm cvi., 37, the word is translated "devils", and 
we are told that the Canaanites shed the blood of their sons and 
daughters to them. Their title seems to come from the same root ShD, 
from which the god name El Shaddai is derived. [w.w.w.] 

The Arabic Shedim means " Nature Spirits ", Elementals ; they are 
the afrits of modern Egypt and djins of Persia, India, etc. 

Sidereal. Anything relating to the stars, but also, in Occultism, to 
various iniluences emanating from such regions, such as " sidereal force ", 
as taught by Paracelsus, and sidereal (luminous), ethereal body, etc. 

Si-dzan^ (Chin,). The Chinese name for Tibet ; mentioned in the 



Glossary ^9$ 

Imperial Library of the capital of Fo Kien, as the " great seat of Occult 
learning*', 2,207 years B.C. (Secret Doctrine^ I., p. 271.) 

Sige (Gr.J, " Silence " ; a name adopted by the Gnostics to signify 
the root whence proceed the iEons of the second series. 

Sighra or Sighraga (Sk,J. The father of MorUy ** who is still living 
through the power of Yoga, and will manifest himself in the beginning of 
the Krita age in order to re-establish the Kshattriyas in the nineteenth 
Yuga'' say the Purinic prophecies. ** Moru" stands here for ** Morya ", 
the dynasty of the Buddhist sovereigns of Pataliputra which began 
with the great King Chandragupta, the grandsire of King Asoka. It is 
the first Buddhist Dynasty. {Secret Doctrine^ I., 378.) 

Sigurd (Scand,). The hero who slew Fafnir, the " Dragon ", roasted 
his heart and ate it, after which he became the wisest of men. An 
allegory referring to Occult study and initiation. 

Simeon-ben-Joohai. An Adept- Rabbin, who was the author of the 
ZoJiar, (q.v.), 

Simon Magus. A very great Samaritan Gnostic and Thaumaturgist, 
called " the great Power of God ". 

Simorgh (Pers,). The same as the winged Siorgh, a kind of gigantic 
griffin, half phoenix, half lion, endowed in the Iranian legends with 
oracular powers. Simorgh was the guardian of the ancient Persian 
Mysteries. It is expected to reappear at the end of the cycle as a 
gigantic bird-lion. Esoterically, it stands as the symbol of the Manvan- 
taric cycle. Its Arabic name is Rakshi. 

Sinai (Heb.). Mount Sinai, the Nissi of Exodus (xvii., 15), the birth- 
place of almost all the solar gods of antiquity, such as Dionysus, born at 
Nissa or Nysa, Zeus of Nysa, Bacchus and Osiris, (q.v.). Some 
ancient people believed the Sun to be the progeny of the Moon, who was 
herself a Sun once upon a time. Sin-ai is the ** Moon Mountain *', hence 
the connexion. 

Sing Bonga. The Sun-spirit with the Kollarian tribes. 

Singha (Sk.J. The constellation of Leo ; Singh meaning " lion ". 

Sinika (Sk,), Also Sinita and Sanika, etc., as variants. The Vishnu 
Purdna gives it as the name of a future sage who will be taught by him 
who will become Maitreya, at the end of Kali Yuga, and adds that this is 
a great mystery. 

Siniv&l! (Sk.), The first day of the new moon, which is greatly 
connected with Occult practices in India. 

Siphra Dtzeniouta (CJuUd,), The Book of Concealed Mystery ; one 
division of the Zohar. (See Mathers' Kabbalah Unveiled.) 



3CK) 



HEOSOPHICAL 



Sirias (Gr.J. la Egyptian, Soikts. The dog-star; the star wor- 
shipped in Egypt and reverenced by the Occultists; by the former 
because its heliacal rising with the Sun was a sign of the beneficent 
inundation of the Nile, and by the latter because it is mysteriously 
associated with Thoth-Hermes, god of wisdom, and Mercury, in another 
form. Thus Sothis-Sirius had, and still has, a mystic and direct influence 
over the whole living heaven, and is connected with almost every god 
and goddess. It was " I sis in the heaven " and called Isis-Sothts, for 
Isis was " in the constellation of the dog ", as is declared on her monu- 
ments. "The soul of Osiris was believed to reside in a personage who 
walks with great steps in front of Sotiiis, sceptre in hand and a whip 
upon his shoulder." Sirius is also Anubis, and is directly connected 
with the ring " Pass me not " ; it is, mort^over, identical with Mithra, 
the Persian Mystery god, and with Horus and even Hathor, called 
sometimes the goddess Sothis. Being connected with the Pyramid, 
Sirius was, therefore, connected with the initiations which took place in 
it. A temple to Sirius-Sothis once existed within the great temple of 
Denderah, To sum up, all religions are not, as Dufeu, the French 
Egyptologist, sought to prove, derived from Sirius, the dog-star, but 
Sirius-Sothis is certainly found in connection with every religion of 
antiquity, 

Sisllta (Sh.), The great elect or Sages, left after every minor Pralaya 
(that which is called " obscuration " in Mr. Sinnett's ExUric Buddhism), 
when the globe goes into its night or rest, to become, on its re-awakening, 
the seed of the next humanity. Lit. " remnant." 

SiatbruB (Chnld.). According to Berosus, the last of the ten kings 
of the dynasty of the divine kings, and the " Noah '' of Chaldea. Thus, 
as Vishnu foretells the coming deluge to Vaivasvata-Manu, and, fore- 
warning, commands him to build an ark, wherein he and seven Rishis 
are saved ; so the god Hea foretells the same to Sisithrus (or 
Xisuthrus) commanding him to prepare a vessel and save himself with a 
few elect. Following suit, almost 800,000 years later, the Lord God of 
Israel repeats the warning to Noah. Which is prior, therefore ? The 
story of Xisuthrus, now deciphered from the Assyrian tablets, corroborates 
that wliich was said of the Chaldean deluge by Eerosus, Apollodorus, 
Abydenus, etc., etc. (See eleventh tablet in G. Smith's Chaldean Account 
of Gtnesis, page 263, el seq.). This tablet xi. covers every point 
treated of in chapters six and seven of Genesis — the gods, the sins of 
men, the command to build an ark, the Flood, the destruction of men, 
the dove and the raven sent out of the ark, and finally the Mount of 
Salvation in Armenia (Nizir-Ararat)_; all is there. The words " the god 
Hea heard, and his liver was angry, because his men had corrupted his 



GLOSSARY 301 

purity ", and the story of his destroying all his seed, were engraved on 
stone tablets many thousand years before the Assyrians reproduced them 
on their baked tiles, and even these most assuredly antedate the Penta- 
teuch, ** written from memory ** by Ezra, hardly four centuries B.C. 

Sistram (Gr.), Egyptian 5s«/i or hemhen. An instrument, usually made of 
bronze but sometimes of gold or silver, of an open circular form, with a 
handle, and four wires passed through holes, to the end of which jingling 
pieces of metal were attached ; its top was ornamented with a figure of 
Isis, or of Hathor. It was a sacred instrument, used in temples for the 
purpose of producing, by means of its combination of metals, magnetic 
currents^ and sounds. To this day it has survived in Christian Abyssinia, 
under the name of sanasel, and the good priests use it to ** drive devils 
from the premises ", an act quite comprehensible to the Occultist, even 
though it does provoke laughter in the sceptical Orientalist. The 
priestess usually held it in her right hand during the ceremony of purifi- 
cation of the air, or the "conjuration of the elements", as E. L6vi would 
call it, while the priests held the Sistrum in their left hand, using the 
right to manipulate the ** key of life " — tlie handled cross or Tau, 

Sisamara (Sk,). An imaginary rotating belt, upon which all the 
celestial bodies move. This host of stars and constellations is repre- 
sented under the figure of Sisumara, a tortoise (some say a porpoise !J, 
dragon, crocodile, and what not. But as it is a symbol of the Yoga- 
meditation of holy Vasudeva or Krishna, it must be a crocodile, or 
rather, a dolphin, since it is identical with the zodiacal Mak&ra. 
Dhruva, the ancient pole-star, is placed at the tip of the tail of this 
sidereal monster, whose head points southward and whose body bends in 
a ring. Higher along the tail are the Prajapati, Agni, etc., and at its 
root are placed Indra, Dharma, and the seven Rishis (the Great Bear), 
etc., etc. The meaning is of course mystical. 

Siva (Sk.J. The third person of the Hindu Trinity (the Trimdrti). 
He is a god of the first order, and in his character of Destroyer higher 
than Vishnu, the Preserver, as he destroys only to regenerate on a 
higher plane. He is born as Rudra, the Kum^ra, and is the patron of 
all the Yogis, being called, as such, Maha-Yogi, the great ascetic. 
His titles are significant: Trilochana^ "the three-eyed", Ma/rarf^va, "the 
great god", Sankara, etc., etc., etc. 

Siva-Rudra (Sk.). Rudra is the Vedic name of Siva, the latter being 
absent from the Veda. 

Skandha or Skhanda (Sk.). Lit., " bundles ", or groups of attributes ; 
everything finite, inapplicable to the eternal and the absolute. There 
^re five — esoterically, seven — attributes in every human living being. 



302 THEOSOPHICAL 

which are known as the Pancha Shandhas, These are (i) form, t^pa; (2) 
perception, vidana ; (3) consciousness, sanjna ; (4) action, sanskdra ; (5) 
knowledge, vidyana. These unite at the birth of man and constitute his 
personahty. After the maturity of these Skandhas, they begin to 
separate and weaken, and this is followed by jaramarana, or decrepitude 
and death. 

Skrymir (Scand,), One of the famous giants in the Eddas, 
Sloka, (Sk.), The Sanskrit epic metre formed of thirty-two syllables : 
verses in four half-lines of eight, or in two lines of sixteen syllables each. 

Smaragdine Tablet of Hermes. As expressed by Eliphas Levi, 
** this Tablet of Emerald is the whole of magic in a single page " ; 
but India has a single word which, when understood, contains "the 
whole of magic ". This is a tablet, however, alleged to have been found 
by Sarai, Abraham's wife (!) on the dead body of Hermes. So say the 
Masons and Christian Kabbalists. But in Theosophy we call it an 
allegory. May it not mean that Sarai-stvaU, the wife of Brahma, or the 
goddess of secret wisdom and learning, finding still much of the ancient 
wisdom latent in the dead body of Humanity, revivified that wisdom ? 
This led to the rebirth of the Occult Sciences, so long forgotten and 
neglected, the world over. The tablet itself, however, although 
containing the ** whole of magic", is too long to be reproduced 
here. 

Smartava (Sk,). The Smarta Brahmans; a sect founded by 
Sankaracharya. 

Smriti (Sk.). Traditional accounts imparted orally, from the word 
Smriti, *' Memory" a daughter of Daksha. They are now the legal 
and ceremonial writings of the Hindus ; the opposite of, and therefore 
less sacred, than the Vedas, which are Sruti, or ** revelation ". 

Sod (Heb.). An "Arcanum", or religious mystery. The Mysteries 
of Baal, Adonis and Bacchus, all sun-gods having serpents as 
symbols, or, as in the case of Mithra, a " solar serpent ". The ancient 
Jews had their Sod also, symbols not excluded, since they had the 
** brazen serpent" lifted in the Wilderness, which particular serpent 
was the Persian Mithra, the symbol of Moses as an Initiate, but was 
certainly never meant to represent the historical Christ. ** The secret 
(Sod) of the Lord is with them that fear him ", says David, in Psalm 
XXV., 14. But this reads in the original Hebrew, ** Sod Ihoh (or the 
Mysteries) of Jehovah are for those who fear him ". So terribly is the 
Old Testament mistranslated, that verse 7 in Psalm Ixxxix., which stands 
in the original ** Al (El) is terrible in the great Sod of the Kedeshim" (the 
Oalli, the priests of the inner Jewish mysteries), reads now in the muti- 



GLOSSARY 303 

lated translation " God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints'*. 
Simeon and Levi held their Sod, and it is repeatedly mentioned in the 
Bible. " Oh my soul '*, exclaims the dying Jacob, " come not thou into 
their secret (Sody in the orig.), unto their assembly '*, i.e.. into the Sodality 
of Simeon and Levi {GeA. xlix., 6). (See Dunlap, Sdd, the Mysteries of 
Adoni.) 

Sodales (Lat,). The members of the Priest -colleges. (See Freund's 
Latin Lexicon, iv., 448.) Cicero tells us also (De Senectute, 13) that 
** Sodalities were constituted in the Idaean Mysteries of the Mighty 
Mother ". Those initiated into the Sod were termed the ** Companions ". 

Sodalian Oath. The most sacred of all oaths. The penalty of 
death followed the breaking of the Sodalian oath or pledge. The oath 
and the Sod (the secret learning) are earlier than the Kabbalah or Tradition, 
and the ancient Midrashim treated fully of the Mysteries or Sod before 
they passed into the Zohar, Now they are referred to as the Secret 
Mysteries of the Thorah, or Law, to break which is fatal. 

Soham (Sk,). A mystic syllable representing involution : lit,, ** That 
I am". 

Sokaris (Eg')> A fire-god ; a solar deity of many forms. He is Ptah- 
Sokaris, when the symbol is purely cosmic, and ** Ptah-Sokaris-Osiris " 
when it is phalHc. This deity is hermaphrodite, the sacred bull Apis 
being its son, conceived in it by a solar ray. According to Smith's* 
History of the East, Ptah is a ** second Demiurgus, an emanation from the 
first creative Principle" (the first Logos). The upright Ptah, with cross 
and staff, is the ** creator of the eggs of the sun and moon". Pierret 
thinks that he represents the primordial Force that preceded the gods 
and "created the star§, and the eggs of the sun and moon". Mariette 
Bey sees in him *' Divine Wisdom scattering the stars in inmiensity ", 
and he is corroborated by the Tar gum of Jerusalem, which states that 
the ** Egyptians called the Wisdom of the First Intellect Ptah ". 

Sokhit (Eg,), A deity to whom the cat was sacred. 

Solomon's Seal. The symbolical double triangle, adopted by the T.S. 
and by many Theosophists. Why it should be called ** Solomon's Seal " is 
a mystery, unless it came to Europe from Iran, where many stories are 
told about that mythical personage and the magic seal used by him to 
catch the djins and imprison them in old bottles. But this seal or double 
triangle is also called in India the " Sign of Vishnu", and may be seen 
on the houses in every village as a tahsman against evil. The triangle 
was sacred and used as a religious sign in the far East ages before 
Pythagoras proclaimed it to be the first of the geometrical figures, as well 
^s the most mysterious. U is found on pyramid and obelisk, and is 



304 THEOSOPHICAL 

pregnant with occult meaning, as are, in fact, all triangles. Thus the 
pentagram is the triple triangle — the six-pointed being the hexalpha. 
(See **Pentacle" and "Pentagram".) The way a triangle points 
determines its meaning. If upwards, it means the male element and divine 
five ; downwards, the female and the umicrs of matter ; upright, but with a 
bar across the top, air and astral light ; downwards, with a bar — the 
earth or gross matter, etc., etc. When a Greek Christian priest in bless- 
ing holds his two fingers and thumb together, he simply makes the magic 
sign — by the power of the triangle or " trinity ". 

Soma (Sk,), The moon, and also the juice of the plant of that name 
used in the temples for trance purposes ; a sacred beverage. Soma, the 
moon, is the symbol of the Secret Wisdom. In the Upanishads the word 
is used to denote gross matter (with an association of moisture) capable 
of producing life under the action of heat. (See " Soma-drink ".) 

Soma-drink. Made from a rare mountain plant by initiated Brahmans. 
This Hindu sacred beverage answers to the Greek ambrosia or nectar, 
quaffed by the gods of Olympus. A cup of Kykcon was also quaffed by 
the Mystes at the Eleusinian initiation. He who drinks it easily reaches 
Bradhna^ or the place of splendour (Heaven). The Soma-drink known to 
Europeans is not the genuine beverage, but its substitute ; for the initiated 
priests alone can taste of the real Soma ; and even kings and Rajas, when 
sacrificing, receive the substitute. Haug, by his own confession, shows 
in his Aitareya Brdhmana, that it was not the Soma that he tasted and 
found nasty, but the juice from the roots of the Nyagradha, a plant or bush 
which grows on the hills of Poona. We were positively informed that 
the majority of the sacrificial priests of the Dekkan have lost the secret 
of the true Soma. It can be found neither in the ritual books nor 
through oral information. The true followers of the primitive Vedic 
religion are very few ; these are the alleged descendants of the Rishis, 
the real Agnihotris, the initiates of the great Mysteries. The Soma- 
drink is also commemorated in the Hindu Pantheon, for it is called 
King-Soma. He who drinks thereof is made to participate in the heavenly 
king ; he becomes filled with his essence, as the Christian apostles and 
their converts were filled with the Holy Ghost, and purified of their 
sins. The Soma makes a new man of the initiate ; he is reborn and 
transformed, and his spiritual nature overcomes the physical ; it bestows 
the divine power of inspiration, and develops the clairvoyant faculty to 
the utmost. According to the exoteric explanation the soma is a plant, 
but at the same time it is an angel. It forcibly connects the inner^ 
highest " spirit " of man, which spirit is an angel hke the mystical Soma, 
with his ** irrational soul ", or astral body, and thus united by the power 
of the magic drink, they soar together above physical nature and partici- 
pate during life in the beatitude and ineffable glories of Heaven. 



GLOSSARY 305 

Thus the Hindu Soma is mystically and in all respects the same that 
the Eucharist supper is to the Christian. The idea is similar. By 
means of the sacrificial prayers — the mantras — this liquor is supposed to 
be immediately transformed into the real Soma, or the angel, and even into 
Brahma himself. Some missionaries have expressed themselves with 
much indignation about this ceremony, the more so, seeing that the 
Brahmans generally use a kind of spirituous liquor 3.3 a substitute. But do 
the Christians believe less fervently in the transubstantiation of the com- 
munion wine into the blood of Christ, because this wine happens to be 
more or less spirituous ? Is not the idea of the symbol attached to it the 
same ? But the missionaries say that this hour of soma-drinking is the 
golden hour of Satan, who lurks at the bottom of the Hindu sacrificial 
cup. (Isis Unveiled.) 

Soma-loka (Sk,), A kind of lunar abode where the god Soma, the 
regent of the moon, resides. The abode of the Lunar Pitris — or Pitriloka* 

Somapa (Sk.), A class of Lunar Pitris. (See " Trisuparna.") 

Somnambulism Lit., *' sleep-walking", or moving, acting, writing, 
reading and performing every function of waking consciousness in one's 
sleep, with utter oblivion of the fact on awakening. This is one of 
the great psycho-physiological phenomena, the least understood as it 
is the most puzzling, to which Occultism alone holds the key. 

Son-kha-pa (Tib.). Written also Tsong-kha-pa. A famous Tibetan 
reformer of the fourteenth century, who introduced a purified Buddhism 
into his country. He was a great Adept, who being unable to witness 
any longer the desecration of Buddhist philosophy by the false priests 
who made of it a marketable commodity, put a forcible stop thereto by a 
timely revolution and the exile of 40,000 sham monks and Lamas from 
the country. He is regarded as an Avatar of Buddha, and is the founder 
of the Gelukpa (" yellow-cap '*) Sect, and of the mystic Brotherhood 
connected with its chiefs. The ** tree of the 10,000 images " (khoom- 
hoom) has, it is said, sprung from the long hair of this ascetic, who 
leaving it behind him disappeared for ever from the view of the profane. 

Sooniam. A magical ceremony for the purpose of removing a sickness 
from one person to another. Black magic, sorcery. 

Sophia (Gr.). Wisdom. The female Logos of the Gnostics; the 
Universal Mind ; and the female Holy Ghost with others. 

Sophia Achamoth (Gr.), The daughter of Sophia. The personified 
Astral Light, or the lower plane of Ether. 

Sortes Sanctorum (Lat.), The ** holy casting of lots for purposes of 
divination ", practised by the early and mediaeval Christian clergy. St. 
Augustine, who does not ** disapprove of this method of learning futurity, 

V 



306 THEOSOPHICAL 

provided it be not used for worldly purposes, practised it himself" 
(Life of St. Gregory of Tours). If, however, " it is practised by laymen, 
heretics, or heathen" of any sort, series sanctorum become — if we believe 
the good and pious fathers — sortes diabolorum or sortiUgium — sorcery. 

Sosiosh (Zend). The Mazdean Saviour who, like Vishnu, Maitreya 
Buddha and others, is expected to appear on a white horse at the end 
of the cycle to save mankind. (See ** S'ambhala ".) 

Soul. The \^i'xv» or nephesh of the Bible ; the vital principle, or the 
breath of life, which every animal, down to the infusoria, shares with 
man. In the translated Bible it stands indifferently for life, blood and 
soul. ** Let us not kill his nephesh ", says the original text : ** let us not 
kill him ", translate t'ue Christians (Genesis xxxvii. 21), and so on. 

Sowan (Pali), The first of the **four paths" which lead to Nirvana, 
in Yoga practice. 

Sowanee (Pali), He who entered upon that ** path ". 

Sparsa (Sk), The sense of touch. 

Spenta Armaita (Zend). The female genius of the earth; the **fair 
daughter of Ahura Mazda ". With the Mazdeans, Spenta Armaita is 
the personified Earth. 

Spirit. The lack of any mutual agreement between writers in the use 
of this word has resulted in dire confusion. It is commonly made 
synonymous with soul ; and the lexicographers countenance the 
usage. In Theosophical teachings the term ** Spirit *' is applied 
solely to that which belongs directly to Universal Consciousness, and which is 
its homogeneous and unadulterated emanation. Thus, the higher Mind 
in Man or liis Ego (Manas) is, when linked indissolubly with Buddhi, a 
spirit ; while the term ** Soul", human or even animal (the lower Manas 
acting in animals as instinct), is applied only to K^ma-Manas, and 
qualified as the living soul. This is nephesh, in Hebrew, the ** breath of 
life". Spirit is formless and immaterial, being, when individualised, of 
the highest spiritual substance — Suddasatwa, the divine essence, of which 
the body of the manifesting highest Dhyanis are formed. Therefore, the 
Theosophists reject the appellation " Spirits" for those phantoms which 
appear in the phenomenal manifestations of the Spiritualists, and call 
them ** shells ", and various other names. (See ** Sukshma Sarira **.) 
Spirit, in short, is no entity in the sense of having form ; for, as Buddhist 
philosophy has it, where there is a form, there is a cause for pain and suffering. 
But each individual spirit — this individuality lasting only throughout the 
manvantaric life-cycle — may be described as a centre of consciousness, a 
self- sentient and self-conscious centre; a state, not a conditioned individual. 
This is why there is such a wealth of words in Sanskrit to express the 



GLOSSARY 307 

different States of Being, Beings and Entities, each appellation showing the 
philosophical difference, the plane to which such unit belongs, and the 
degree of its spirituality or materiality. Unfortunately these terms are 
almost untranslatable into our Western tongues. 

Spiritualism. In philosophy, the state or condition of mind opposed 
to materialism or a material conception of things. Theosophy, a doctrine 
which teaches that all which exists is animated or informed by the 
Universal Soul or Spirit, and that not an atom in our universe can be 
outside of this omnipresent Principle — is pure Spiritualism. As to the 
belief that goes under that name, namely, belief in the constant com- 
munication of the living with the dead, whether through the mediumistic 
powers of oneself or a so-called mediutn— it is no better than the materiali- 
sation of spirit, and the degradation of the human and the divine souls. 
Believers in such communications are simply dishonouring the dead and 
performing constant sacrilege. It was well called ** Necromancy " in days 
of old. But our modern Spiritualists take offence at being told this 
simple truth. 

Spook. A ghost, a hobgoblin. Used of the various apparitions in 
the seance-rooms of the Spiritualists. 

Sraddha (Sk). Lit,^ faith, respect, reverence. 

Sraddha (Sk,), Devotion to the memory and care for the welfare of 
the manes of dead relatives. A post-mortem rite for newly-deceased kindred. 
There are also monthly rites of Sraddha, 

Sraddhadeva (Sk,), An epithet of Yama, the god of death and king 
of the nether world, or Hades. 

Sramana (Sk,), Buddhist priests, ascetics and postulants for Nirvdna, 
** they who have to place a restraint on their thoughts ". The word 
Saman, now ** Shaman " is a corruption of this primitive word. 

Srastara (Sk,), A couch consisting of a mat or a tiger's skin, strewn 
with darbhay kusa and other grasses, used by ascetics — gurus and chelas — 
and spread on the floor. 

Sravah (Mazd,), The Amshaspends, in their highest aspect. 

SraYaka (Sk,), Lit,, ** he who causes to hear "; a preacher. But in 
Buddhism it denotes a disciple or chela. 

Sri Sankar§.ch§rya (Sk,), The great religious reformer of India, and 
teacher of the Vedanta philosophy— the greatest of all such teachers, 
regarded by the Adwaitas (Non-dualists) as an incarnation of Siva and a 
worker of miracles. He established many fnathams (monasteries), and 
founded the most learned sect among Brahmans, called the Smartava. 
The legends about him are as numerous as his philosophical writings. At 
the age of thirty-two he went to Kashmir, and reaching Ked^ranath in 



308 THEOSOPHICAL 

the Himalaj'as, entered a cave alone, whence he never returned. His 
followers claim that he did not die, but only retired from the world. 

Sringa Giri (Sk.), A large and wealthy monastery on the ridge of the 
Western Ghauts in Mysore (Southern India); the clnef matham of the 
Adwaita and Smarta Brahmans, founded by Sankaracharya. There 
resides the religious head (the latter being called Sankaracharya) of all 
the Vedantic Adwaitas, credited by many with great abnormal powers. 

Sri-pada (Sk.). Tlie impression of Buddha's foot. Lit,f ** the step or 
foot of the Master or exalted Lord "» 

SriYatsa (Sk.). A mystical mark worn by Krishna, and also adopted 
by the Jains. 

Sriyantra (Sk.). The double triangle or the seal of Vishnu, called 

also '* Solomon's seal ", and adopted by the T.S. 

Srotapatti (Sk.). Lit., *' he who has entered the stream ", i,e,, the 

stream or path that leads to Nirvana, or figuratively, to the Nirvanic 
Ocean. The same as Soivancc. 

Srotriya (Sk.). The appellation of a Brahman who practises the 
Vedic rites he studies, as distinguished from the Vedavit, the Brahman 
who studies them only theoretically. 

Sruti (Sk.). Sacred tradition received by revelation ; the Vedas are 
such a tradition as distinguished from '* Smriti " (q-v.), 

St. Germain, the Count of. Referred to as an enigmatical personage 
by modern writers. P'rcderic II., King of Prussia, used to say of him 
that he was a man whom no one had ever been able to make out. Many 
are his " biographies ", and each is wilder than the other. By some 
he was regarded as an incarnate god, by others as a clever Alsatian 
Jew. One thing is certain. Count de St. Germain — whatever his real 
patronymic ma)* have been — had a right to his name and title, for he 
had b(night a property called San Germano, in the Italian Tyrol, and 
paid the Pope for the title. He was uncommonly handsome, and his 
enormous erudition and linguistic capacities are undeniable, for he spoke 
English, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Russian, 
Swedish, Danish, and many Slavonian and Oriental languages, with 
equal facility with a native. He was extremely wealthy, never 
received a sou from anyone — in fact never accepted a glass of water or 
broke bread with anyone — but made most extravagant presents of 
superb jewellery to all his friends, even to the royal families of Europe. 
His proficiency in music was marvellous; he played on every instrument, 
the violin being his favourite. *' St. Germain rivalled Paganini himself", 
was said of him by an octogenarian Belgian in 1835, after hearing the 
"Genoese maestro". ** It is St. Germain resurrected who plays t..c 



GLOSSARY 309 

violin in the body of an Italian skeleton ", exclaimed a Lithuanian 
baron who had heard both. 

He never laid claim to spiritual powers, but proved to have a right to 
such claim. He used to pass into a dead trance from thirty-seven to forty- 
nine hours without awakening, and then knew all he had to know, and 
demonstrated the fact by prophesying futurity and never making a 
mistake. It is he who prophesied before the Kings Louis XV. and 
XVL, and the unfortunate Marie Antoinette. Many were the still living 
witnesses in the first quarter of this century who testified to his mar- 
vellous memory ; he could read a paper in the morning and, though 
hardly glancing at it, could repeat its contents without missing one word 
days afterwards ; he could write with two hands at once, the right hand 
writing a piece of poetry, the left a diplomatic paper of the greatest 
importance. He read sealed letters without touching them, while still in 
the hand of those who brought them to him. He was the greatest adept in 
transmuting metals, making gold and the most marvellous diamonds, 
an art, he said, he had learned from certain Brahmans in India, who 
taught him the artificial crystallisation (**quickening ") of pure carbon. 
As our Brother Kenneth Mackenzie has it : — ** In 1780, when on a visit 
to the French Ambassador to the Hague, he broke to pieces with a 
hammer a superb diamond of his own manufacture, the counterpart of 
which, also manufactured by himself, he had just before sold to a 
jeweller for 5500 louis d'or". He was the friend and confidant of Count 
Orloff in 1772 at Vienna, whom he had helped and saved in St. 
Petersburg in 1762, when concerned in the famous political conspiracies 
of that time ; he also became intimate with Frederick the Great 
of Prussia. As a matter of course, he had numerous enemies, and 
therefore it is not to be wondered at if all the gossip invented about him 
is now attributed to his own confessions : e.g., that he was over hwe 
hundred years old ; also, that he claimed personal intimacy ** with the 
Saviour and his twelve Apostles, and that he had reproved Peter for his 
bad temper " — the latter clashing somewhat in point of time with the 
former, if he had really claimed to be only five hundred years old. If he 
said that *' he had been born in Chaldea and professed to possess the 
secrets of the Egyptian magicians and sages", he may have spoken truth 
without making any miraculous claim. There are Initiates, and not the 
highest either, who are placed in a condition to remember more than one 
of their past lives. But we have good reason to know that St. Germain 
could never have claimed ** personal intimacy '* with the Saviour. How- 
ever that may be, Count St. Germain was certamly the greatest Oriental 
Adept Europe has seen during the last centuries. But Europe knew 
him not. Perchance some may recognise him at the next Terreur, which 
will affect all Europe when it comes, and not one country alone. 



^10 tHEOSOPHlCAL 

Sth&la Hfi.y§. (Sk,), Gross, concrete and — because differentiated — 
an illusion. 

Sthana (Sk.), Also Ay ana ; the place or abode of a god. 

Sthavara (Sk.), From sthd to stay or remain motionless. The 
term for all conscious, sentient objects deprived of the power of locomo- 
tion — fixed and rooted like the trees or plants; while all those sentient 
things, which add motion to a certain degree of consciousness, are called 
Jangama, from gam, to move, to go. 

Sth&virah, or Sthaviranikaya (Sk.). One of the earliest philosophical 
contemplative schools, founded 300 B.C. In the year 247 before the 
Christian era, it split into three divisions : the Mahavihdra Vdsindh (School 
of the great monasteries), Jetavaniydh, and Ahhayagiti Vdsindh. It is one 
of the four branches of the Vaibhdchika School founded by Katyayana, 
one of the great disciples of Lord Gautama Buddha, the author of 
the Abhidharma J nana Prasthdna Shdstra, who is expected to reappear 
as a Duddha. (Sec *' Abhayagiri ", etc.) All these schools are 
highly mystical. Lit., Stuviranikaya is translated the ** School of the 
Chairman " or ** President " (Chohan). 

Sthiratman (Sk.). Eternal, supreme, applied to the Universal 
Soul. 

Sthiti (Sk.). The attribute of preservation ; stability. 

Sthula (Sk.). Differentiated and conditioned matter. 

Sthula Sariram (Sk.). In metaphysics, the gross physical body. 

Sthulopadhi (Sk.). A ** principle " answering to the lower triad in man, 
i.e., bod}', astral form, and life, in the Taraka Raja Yoga system, which 
names only three chief principles in man. Sthulopadhi corresponds to 
the jagrata, or waking, conscious state. 

Stupa (Sk.). A conical monument, in India and Ceylon, erected 
over relics of Buddha, Arhats, or other great men. 

Subhava (Sk.). Being ; the self- forming substance, or that ** sub- 
stance which gives substance to itself". (See the Ekasloka Shdstra 
of Nagarjuna.) Explained paradoxically, as "the nature which has no 
nature of its own ", and again as that which is with, and without, 
action. (See *' Svabliavat".) This is the Spirit within Substance, the ideal 
cause of the potencies acting on the work of formative evolution (not 
** creation " in the sense usually attached to the word) ; which potencies 
become in turn the real causes. In the words used in the Vedanta and 
Vytlya Philosophies : nimitta, the efficient, and updddna, the material, 
causes are contained in Subhava co-eternally. Says a Sanskrit Sloka : 
** Worthiest of ascetics, through its potency [that of the * efficient * 
cause] every created thing comes by its proper nature ". 



ClossarV 3II 

Substance. Thcosophists use the word in a dual sense, qualifying 
substance as perceptible and imperceptible ; and making a distinction 
between material, psychic and spiritual substances (sec ** Sudda Satwa "), 
into ideal {i,e,, existing on higher planes) and real substance. 

Suchi (Sk.), A name of Indra ; also of the third son of Abhimanin, 
son of Agni ; *.^., one of the primordial forty -nine fires. 

Su-darshana (Sk,), The Discus of Krishna ; a flaming weapon that 
plays a great part in Krishna's biographies. 

Sudda Satwa (Sk,), A substance not subject to the qualities of 
matter ; a luminiferous and (to us) invisible substance, of which the 
bodies of the Gods and highest Dhyanis are formed. Philosophically, 
Suddha Satwa is a conscious state of spiritual Ego-ship rather than any 
essence. 

Suddhodana (Sk,), The King of Kapilavastu ; the father of Gautama 
Lord Buddha. 

Sudha (Sk,), The food of the gods, akin to amrita the substance 
that gives immortality. 

S'udra (Sk,), The last of the four castes that sprang from Brahma's 
body. The " servile caste " that issued from the foot of the deity. 

Sudyumna (Sk,), An epithet of Ila (or Ida), the offspring of 
Vaivasvata Manu and his fair daughter who sprang from his sacrifice 
when he was left alone after the flood. Sudyumna was an androgynous 
creature, one month a male and the other a female. 

Sufflsm (Or,), From the root of Sophia^ " Wisdom ". A mystical sect 
in Persia sometliing like the Vedantins ; though very strong in numbers, 
none but very intelligent men join it. They claim, and very 
justly, the possession of the esoteric philosophy and doctrine of true 
Mohammedanism. The SufTi (or Sofi) doctrine is a good deal in touch 
with Theosophy, inasmuch as it preaches one universal creed, and 
outward respect and tolerance for every popular exoteric faith. It is 
also in touch with Masonry. The Suffis have four degrees and four 
stages of initiation : ist, probationary, with a strict outward observance 
of Mussulman rites, the hidden meaning of each ceremony and dogma 
being explained to the candidate; 2nd, metaphysical training; 3rd, the 
** Wisdom " degree, when the candidate is initiated into the innermost 
nature of things ; and 4tli, fmal Truth, when the Adept attains divine 
powers, and complete union with the One Universal Deity in ecstacy or 
Samadhi, 

Sugata (Sk.), One of the Lord Buddha's titles, having many 
meanings. 

Sukhab (Clmld.), One of the seven Babylonian gods. 



312 THEOSOPHICAL 

Sakh&Tat! (Sk,), The Western Paradise of the uneducated rabble. 
The popular notion is that there is a Western Paradise of AmitAbha, 
wherein good men and saints revel in physical delights until they are 
carried once more by Karma into the circle of rebirth. This is an 
exaggerated and mistaken notion of DevAch&n. 

Saki fSk.). A daughter of Rishi Kashyapa, wife of Garuda, the king 
of the birds, the vehicle of Vishnu ; the mother of parrots, owls and 
crows. 

Sakra (Sk,), A name of the planet Venus, called also Usanas. In 
this impersonation Usanas is the Guru and preceptor of the Daityas — the 
giants of the earth — in the Purdnas, 

Sdkshma Sarira (Sk,), The dream -like, illusive body akin to 
MdnasarUpa or " thought-body **. It is the vesture of the gods, or the 
Dhyanis and the Devas. Written also Sukshama Sharira and called 
Sukshmopadhi by the Tiraka Raja Yogis. {Secret Doctrine^ I., 157.) 

Sdkshmopadhi (Sk.), In Taraka Raja Yoga the "principle " containing 
both the higher and the lower Manas and Kama. It corresponds to the 
Manomaya Kosha of the Vedantic classification and to the Svapna state. 
(See "Svapna ".) 

Sa-Heru (Sk,), The same as Meru, the world-mountain. The prefix 
Su implies the laudation and exaltation of the object or personal name 
which follows it. 

Summerland. The name given by the American Spiritualists and 
Phenomenalists to the land or region inhabited after death by their 
** Spirits". It is situated, says Andrew Jackson Davis, either within or 
beyond the Milky Way. It is described as having cities and beautiful 
buildings, a Congress Hall, museums and libraries for the instruction of 
the growing generations of young " Spirits ". 

We are not told whether the latter are subject to disease, decay and 
death; but unless they are, the claim that the disembodied ** Spirit " of a 
child and even still-born babe grows and develops as an adult is hardly 
consistent with logic. But that which we are distinctly told is, that in 
the Summerland Spirits are given in marriage, beget spiritual (?) 
children, and are even concerned with politics. All this is no satire or 
exaggeration of ours, since the numerous works by Mr. A. Jackson 
Davis are there to prove it, e,g,y the International Congress of Spirits 
by that author, as well as we remember the title. It is this grossly 
materialistic way of viewing a disembodied spirit that has turned many of 
the present Theosophists away from Spiritualism and its "philosophy". 
The majesty of death is thus desecrated, and its awful and solemn 
mystery becomes no better than a farce. 



GLOSSARY 313 

Sanasepha (Sk.), The Pur^nic *' Isaac ** ; the son of the sage Rishika 
who sold him for one hundred cows to King Ambarisha, for a sacrifice and 
** burnt offering " to Varuna, as a substitute for the king's son Rohita, 
devoted by his father to the god. When already stretched on the altar 
Sunasepha is saved by Rishi Visvamitra, who calls upon his own 
hundred sons to take the place of the victim, and upon their refusal 
degrades them to the condition of Ch^ndalas. After which the Sage 
teaches the victim a mantram the repetition of which brings the gods to 
his rescue ; he then adopts Sunasepha for his elder son. (See Rdmdyana.) 
There are dififerent versions of this story. 

Sang-Hing-Sha (Chin.). The Chinese tree of knowledge and tree 
of life. 

S&nya (Sk.). Illusion, in the sense that all existence is but a 
phantom, a dream, or a shadow. 

Sunyat& (Sk.). Void, space, nothingness. The name of our 
objective universe in the sense of its unreality and illusiveness. 

SaoyatOF (Fin.). In the epic poem of the Finns, the Kalevala, 
the name for the primordial Spirit of Evil, from whose saliva the 
serpent of sin was born. 

Sarabhi (Sk.). The ** cow of plenty " ; a fabulous creation, one of the 
fourteen precious things yielded by the ocean of milk when churned by 
the gods. A ** cow" which yields every desire to its possessor. 

SaraF&ni (Sk.). A title of Aditi, the mother of the gods or suras. 

Suras (Sk.). A general term for gods, the same as devas ; the contrary 
to asuras or " no-gods **. 

Sa-Fas& (Sk.). A daughter of Daksha, Kashyapa's wife, and the mother 
of a thousand many-headed serpents and dragons. 
Surpa (Sk.). ** Winnower.'* 

Surtar (Scand.). The leader of the fiery sons of Muspel in the Eddas. 
SuFuk&ya (Sk.). One of the ** Seven Buddhas ", or Sapia Tathdgata. 

Sdrya (Sk.). The Sun, worshipped in the Vedas. The ofifspring of 
Aditi (Space), the mother of the gods. The husband of Sanjna, or spiritual 
consciousness. The great god whom Visvakarman, his father-in-law, 
the creator of the gods and men, and their ** carpenter ", crucifies on a 
lathe, and cutting off the eighth part of his rays, deprives his head of its 
effulgency, creating round it a dark aureole. A mystery of the last 
initiation, and an allegorical representation of it.' 

S&pyasiddhanta (Sk.). A Sanskrit treatise on astronomy. 

SflryaTansa (Sk.). The solar race. A Siiryavansee is one who claims 
descent from the lineage headed by Ikshvaku. Thus, while Rama^ 



314 TMEOSOPHICAL 

belonged to tlie A yodhya Dynasty of the Suryavansa, Krishna belonged to 
the line of Vadu of the lunar race, or the Chandravansa, as did Gautama 
Buddha. 

Suryavarta (Sk,), A degree or stage of Samadhi. 

Sushumna (Sk.). The solar ray — the first of the seven rays. Also 
the name of a spinal nerve which connects the heart with the Brahma- 
randra, and plays a most important part in Yoga practices. 

Sushupti Avastha (Sk.), Deep sleep ; one of the four aspects of 
Pranava. 

Sutra (Sk,). The second division of the sacred writings, addressed to 
the Hnddhist laity. 

Sutra Period (Sk,), One of the periods into which Vedic literature is 
divided. 

Sutratman ("SA-.^. L//., **the thread of spirit"; the immortal Ego, 
the Individuality which incarnates in men one life after the other, and 
upon which arc strung, like beads on a string, his countless Personalities. 
The universal life-supporting air, Samashti pran ; universal energy. 

Svabhavat (Sk.), Explained by the Orientalists as "plastic sub- 
stance ", which is an inadequate definition. Svabhavat is the world- 
substance and stuff, or rathei that which is behind it — the spirit and 
essence of substance. The name comes from Siibhdva and is composed 
of three words — sit, good, perfect, fair, handsome; sva, self; and bhava^ 
being, or state of being. From it all nature proceeds and into it all returns 
at the end of the life-cycles. In Esotericism it is called ** Father-Mother '\ 
It is the plastic essence of matter. 

Svabhavika (Sk.). The oldest existing school of Buddliism. They 
assigned the manifestation of the universe and physical phenomena to 
Svabhava or respective nature of things. According to Wilson the 
Svabhavas of things are *' the inherent properties of the qualities 
by which they act, as soothing, terrific or stupefying, and the forms 
Swarupas are the distinction of biped, quadruped, brute, fish, animal 
and the like ". 

Svadha (Sk.). Oblation; allegorically called **the wife of the Pitris ", 
the Agnishwattas and Barhishads. 

Svaha (Sk.). A customary exclamation meaning ** May it be 
perpetuated " or rather, ** so be it ". When used at ancestral sacrifices 
(Brahmanic), it means ** May the race be perpetuated! " 

Svapada (Sk.). rrotO})hism, cells, or microscopic organisms. 

Svapna (Sk.). A trance or dreamy condition. Clairvoyance. 

Svapna AvaBthfi (Sk,). A dreaming state ; one of the four aspects of 
Prfinava; a Yoga practice. 



GLOSSARY 315 

Svapfij (Sk,). The last or seventh (synthetical) ray of the seven solar 
rays ; the same as Brahmli. These seven rays are the entire gamut of 
the seven occult forces (or gods) of nature, as their respective names well 
prove. These are : Sushumn^ (the ray which transmits sunlight to the 
moon) ; Harikesha, Visvakarman, Visvatryarchas, Sannadhas, Sarvivasu, 
and Svar^j. As each stands for one of the creative gods or Forces, it is 
easy to see how important were the functions of the sun in the eyes of 
antiquity, and why it was deified by the profane. 

Svar^a (Sk,), A heavenly abode, the same as Indra-loka ; a paradise. 
It is the same as — 

SYar-Ioka (Sk.), The paradise on Mount Meru. 

Svasam Yedana (Sk,), Lit,, ** the reflection which analyses itself" ; a 
synonym of Paramartha. 

SYastika (Sk,), In popular notions, it is the Jaina cross, or the 
** four-footed " cross (croix cramponnee). In Masonic teachings, **the most 
ancient Order of the Brotherhood of the Mystic Cross " is said to have 
been founded by Fohi, 1,027 b.c, and introduced into China fifty-two years 
later, consisting of the three degrees. In Esoteric Philosophy, the 
most mystic and ancient diagram. It is ** the originator of the fire by 
friction, and of the * Forty-nine Fires'." Its symbol was stamped on 
Buddha's heart, and therefore called the ** Heart's Seal". It is laid on 
the breasts of departed Initiates after their death ; and it is mentioned 
with the greatest respect in the Rdmdyana, Engraved on every rock, 
temple and prehistoric building of India, and wherever Buddhists have 
left their landmarks; it is also found in China, Tibet and Siam, and 
among the ancient Germanic nations as Thor's Hammer. As described 
by Eitel in his Hand-Book of Chinese Buddhism : (i) it is ** found among 
Bonpas and Buddhists " ; (2) it is ** one of the sixty-five figures of the 
Sripada""; (3) it is ** the symbol of esoteric Buddhism"; (4) ** the 
special mark of all deities worshipped by the Lotus School of China ". 
Finally, and in Occultism, it is as sacred to us as the Pythagorean 
Tetraktys, of which it is indeed the double symbol. 

Svastik&sana (Sk,), The second of the four principal postures 
of the eighty-four prescribed in Hatha Yoga practices. 

SYayambhii (Sk,). A metaphysical and philosophical term, meaning 
"the spontaneously sel f- produced " or the '* self-existent being". An 
epithet of Brahma. Svayambhuva is also the name of the first Manu. 

Svayambhfi S&iiyat& (Sk,), Spontaneous self-evolution ; self-exist- 
ence of the real in the unreal, i,e,, of the Eternal Sat in the periodical A sat. 

Sveta (Sk,). A serpent-dragon ; a son of Kashyapa. 

Sveta-dwipa (Sk.). Lit,, the White Island or Continent ; one of the 



3l6 THEOSOPHICAL 

Sapta-dwipa. Colonel Wilford sought to identify it with Great 
Britain, but failed. 

Sveta-Iohita (Sk,J. The name of Siva when he appears in the 29th 
Kalpa as ** a moon-coloured Kum^ra ". 

Swedenborg, Emmanuel. The great Swedish seer and mystic. He 
was born on the 29th January, 1688, and was the son of Dr. Jasper 
Swedberg, bishop of Skara, in West Gothland ; and died in London, in 
Great liath Street, Clerkenwell, on March 29th, 1772. Of all mystics, 
Swedenborg has certainly influenced *' Theosophy " the most, yet he 
left a far more profound impress on official science. For while as an 
astronomer, mathematician, physiologist, naturalist, and philosopher he 
had no rival, in psychology and metaphysics he was certainly behind his 
time. When forty-six years of age, he became a ** Theosophist ", and a 
" seer " ; but, although his life had been at all times blameless and 
respectable, he was never a true philanthropist or an ascetic. His 
clairvoyant powers, however, were very remarkable ; but they did not go 
beyond this plane of matter; all that he says of subjective worlds 
and spiritual beings is evidently far more the outcome of his exuberant 
fancy, than of his spiritual insight. He left behind him numerous works, 
which are sadly misinterpreted by his followers. 

Sylphs. The Rosicrucian name for the elementals of the air. 

Symbolism. The pictorial expression of an idea or a thought. 
Primordial writing had at first no characters, but a symbol generally 
stood for a whole phrase or sentence. A symbol is thus a recorded 
parable, and a parable a spoken symbol. The Chinese written language 
is nothing more than symbolical writing, each of its several thousand 
letters being a symbol. 

Syzygy (Gr.), A Gnostic term, meaning a pair or couple, one active, 
the other passive. Used especially of iEons. 



GLOSSARY 317 



T. 

I . — The twentieth letter of the alphabet. In the Latin Alphabet 

its value was 160, and, with a dash over it (T) signified 160,000. 
It is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the Tau whose equivalents 
are T, TH, and numerical value 400. Its symbols are as a tau, a cross -f, 
the foundation framework of construction; 'and as a teth (T), the ninth 
letter, a snake and the basket of the Eleusinian mysteries. 

Taaroa (Tah,), The creative power and chief god of the Tahitians. 

Tab-nooth (Heb,). Form ; a Kabbalistic term. 

Tad-aikya (Sk,). ** Oneness"; identification or unity with the 
Absolute. The universal, unknowable Essence (Parabrahm) has no 
name in the Vedas but is referred to generally as Tody ** That ". 

Tafne (Eg.). A goddess ; daughter of the sun, represented with the 
head of a lioness. 

Tahmurath (Pets.). The Iranian Adam, whose steed was Simorgh 
Anke, the griffin -phoenix or infinite cycle. A repetition or reminiscence 
of Vishnu and Garuda. 

Tahor (Heb.). Lit., Mundus, the world ; a name gpiven to the Deity, 

which identification indicates a belief in Pantheism. 

Taht Esmun (Eg.). The Egyptian Adam ; the first human ancestor. 

Taijasi (Sk.). The radiant, flaming — from Tejas **fire"; used some- 
times to designate the Mdnasa-rilpa, the ** thought-body '*, and also the 
stars. 

Tairya^onya (Sk.). The fifth creation, or rather the fifth stage of 
creation, that of the lower animals, reptiles, etc. (See ** Tiryaksrotas **.) 

Taittriya (Sk.). A Brdhmana of the Yajur Veda. 

Talapoin (Siam.). A Buddhist monk and ascetic in Siam ; some of 
these ascetics are credited with great magic powers. 

Talisman. From the Arabic tilism or tilsam, a ** magic image ". An 
object, whether in stone, metal, or sacred wood ; often a piece of parchment 
filled with characters and images traced under certain planetary 
influences in magical formulae, given by one versed in occult sciences 
to one unversed, either with the object of preserving him from evil, or 
for the accomplishment of certain desires. The greatest virtue and 
efficacy of the talisman, however, resides in the faith of its possessor; 



3l8 THEOSOPHICAL 

not because of the credulity of the latter, or that it possesses no virtue, 
but because faith is a quality endowed with a most potent creative power ; and 
therefore — unconsciously to the believer — intensifies a hundredfold 
the power originally imparted to the talisman by its maker. 

Talmidai Hakhameem (Heh,), A class of mystics and Kabbalists 
whom the Zohar calls ** Disciples of the Wise ", and who were Sdrisim or 
voluntary etimichs, becoming such for spiritual motives. (See Matthew 
xix., 1 1- 12, a passage implying the laudation of such an act.) 

Talmud (Heb.). Rabbinic Commentaries on the Jewish faith. It is 
composed of two parts, the older Mishnah, and the more modern Gemara, 
Hebrews, who call the Pentateuch the written law, call the Talmud 
the unwritten or oral law. [w.w.w.] 

The Talmud contains the civil and canonical laws of the Jews, who claim 
a great sanctity for it. For, save the above-stated difference between 
the Pentateuch and the Talmud, the former, they say, can claim no priority 
over the latter, as both were received simultaneously by Moses on 
Mount Sinai from Jehovah, who wrote the one and delivered tlie other orally, 

Tamala Pattra (Sk.). Stainless, pure, sage-like. Also the name of a 
leaf of the Laurus Cassia, a tree regarded as having various very occult and 
magical properties. 

Tamarisk, or Erica, A sacred tree in Egypt of great occult virtues. 
Many of the temples were surrounded with such trees, pre-eminently one 
at PhilcE, sacred among the sacred, as the body of Osiris was supposed to 
lie buried under it. 

Tamas (Sk,), The quality of darkness, ** foulness" and inertia ; also 
of ignorance, as matter is blind. A term used in metaphysical philosoph}'. 
It is the lowest of the three gunas or fundamental qualities. 

Tammuz (Syr.), A Syrian deity worshipped by idolatrous Hebrews 
as well as by Syrians. The women of Israel held annual lamentations 
over Adonis (that beautiful youth being identical with Tammuz). 
The feast held in his honour was solstitial, and began with the new 
moon, in the month of Tammuz (July), taking place chiefly at Byblos in 
Phoenicia; but it was also celebrated as late as the fourth century of our 
era at Bethlehem, as we find St. Jerome writing (Epistles p. 49) his 
lamentations in these words : *' Over Bethlehem, the grove of Tammuz, 
that is of Adonis, was casting its shadow ! And in the grotto where 
formerly the infant Jesus cried, the lover of Venus was being mourned." 
Indeed, in the Mysteries of Tammuz or Adonis a whole week was spent 
in lamentations and mournmg. The funereal processions w^ere succeeded by 
a fast, and later by rejoicings ; for after the fast Adonis-Tammuz was 
regarded as raised from the dead, and wild orgies of joy, of eating and 



GLOSSARY 319 

drinking, as now in Easter week, went on uninterruptedly for several 
days. 

Tamra-Parna (Sk,), Ceylon, the ancient Taprobana. 

Tamti (Chald.). A goddess, the same as Behta. Tamti-Belita is the 
personified Sea, the mother of tlic City of Erech, the Chaldean Necropolis. 
Astronomically, Tamti is Astoreth or Istar, Venus. 

Tanaim (Hcb. ), Jewish Initiates, very learned Kabbalists in ancient 
times. The Talmud contains sundry legends ab.)ut them and gives the 
chief names among them. 

Tanga-Tan^O (Pcmv. ). An idol much reverenced by the Peruvians. It 
is the symbol of the Triune or the Trinity, ** One in three, and three in 
One ", and existed before our era. 

Tanha (Pali), The thirst for life. Desire to live and clinging to life 
on this earth. This clinging is that which causes rebirth or 
reincarnation. 

Tanjur (Tib.), A collection of Buddhist works translated from the 
Sanskrit into Tibetan and Mongolian. It is tlie more voluminous canon, 
comprising 225 large volumes on miscellaneous subjects. The Kanjur^ 
which contains the connnandments or the '* Word of the Buddha ", has 
only 108 volumes. 

Tanmatras (Sk.), The typos or rudiments of the ^\-ii Elements; the 
subtile essence of these, devoid of all qualities and identical with the 
properties of the five basic Elements -earth, water, fire, air and ether; 
i.c.y the tanmatras are, in one of their aspects, smell, taste, touch, sight, 
and hearin*^. 

Tantra (Sk.), Lit,, ** rule or ritual ". Certain mystical and magical 
works, whose chief peculiarity is the worship of the female power, 
personified in Sakti. Devi or Durga (Kali, Siva's wife) is the special 
energy connected with sexual rites and magical powers — the worst form 
of black magic or sorcery, 

Tantrika (Sk,). Ceremonies connected with the above worship. 
Sakti having a two- fold nature, white and black, gooil and bad, the 
Saktas are divided into two classes, the Dakshimicharis and V^iimacharis, 
or the right-hand and the left-hand Saktas, /.r., "white " and ** black " 
magicians. The worship of the latter is most licentious and immoral. 

Tao (Chin,), The name of the philosophy of Lao-tze. 

Taoer (Eg,), The female Typhon, the hippopotaums, called also 
Ta-ur, Ta-op'Ocr, etc. ; she is the Thoueris of the Greeks. This wife 
of Typhon was represented as a monstrous hippopotamus, sitting on 
her hind legs with a knife in one hand and the sacred knot in the other 
(the pasa of Siva). Her back was covered with the scales of a crocodile, 



320 THEOSOPHICAL 

and she had a crocodile's tail. She is also called Teb^ whence the name 
of Typhon is also, sometimes, Tebh. On a monument of the sixth 
dynasty she is called **the nurse of the gods ". She was feared in Egypt 
even more than Typhon. (See ** Typhon ".) 

Tao-teh-king (Chin.). Lit., "The Book of the Perfectibility of 
Nature" written by the great philosopher Lao-tze. It is a kind of 
cosmogony which contains all the fundamental tenets of Esoteric Cosmo- 
genesis. Thus he says that in the beginning there was naught but 
limitless and boundless Space. All that lives and is, was born in it, from 
the '* Principle which exists by Itself, developing Itself from Itself", i.e., 
Swabhdvat, As its name is unknown and its essence is unfathomable, 
philosophers have called it Too (Antvta Mundi), the uncreate, unborn and 
eternal energy of nature, manifesting periodically. Nature as well as 
man when it reaches purity will reach rest, and then all become one 
with Tao, which is the source of all bliss and felicity. As in the Hindu 
and Buddhistic philosophies, such purity and bliss and immortality can 
only be reached through the exercise of virtue and the perfect quietude 
of our worldly spirit ; the human mind has to control and finally subdue 
and even crush the turbulent action of man's physical nature ; and the 
sooner he reaches the required degree of moral purification, the happier 
he will feel. (See Annaks dii Musec Guimet, Vols. XI. and XII.; Etudes 
sur la Religion des Chinois, by Dr. Groot.) As the famous Sinologist, 
Pauthier, remarked : ** Human Wisdom can never use language more 
holy and profound ". 

Tapas (Sk.J. *' Abstraction ", ** meditation ". ** To perform tapas** 
is to sit for contemplation. Therefore ascetics are often called Tdpasas. 

Tapasa-taru (Sk.). The Sesamum Orientde, a tree very sacred among 
the ancient ascetics of China and Tibet. 

TapasYl (Sk.J. Ascetics and anchorites of every religion, whether 
Buddhist, Brahman, or Taoist. 

Taphos (Gr.). Tomb, the sarcophagus placed in the Adytum and 
used for purposes of initiation. 

Tapo-loka (Sk.). The domain of the fire-devas named Vairajas. It 
is known as the ** world of the seven sages", and also "the realm of 
penance ". One of the Shashta-loka (six worlds) above our own, 
which is the seventh. 

Tar& (Sk.). The wife of Brihaspati (Jupiter), carried away by King 
Soma, the Moon, an act which led to the war of the Gods with the 
A suras. Tara personifies mystic knowledge as opposed to ritualistic 
faith. She is the mother (by Soma) of Buddha, ** Wisdom ". 

T&rak& (Sk.). Described as a Danava or Daitya, i.e., a ** Giant- 



GLOSSARY 321 

Demon ", whose superhuman austerities as a yogi made the gods 
tremble for their power and supremacy. Said to have been killed by 
K^rttikeya. (See Secut Doctrine, II., 382.) 

Tarakamaya (Sh.), The first war in Heaven through Tari. 

TarakS. R&ja Yoga (Sk.), One of the Brahminical Yoga systems for 
the development of purely spiritual powers and knowledge which lead to 
Nirvana, 

Targum (Chald.). Lit., ** Interpretation", from the root targnn, to 
interpret. Paraphrases of Hebrew Scriptures. Some of the Targums 
are very mystical, the Aramaic (or Targumatic) language being used 
all through the Zohar and other Kabbalistic works. To distinguish this 
language from the Hebrew, called the " face " of the sacred tongue, it is 
referred to as ahorayim, the ** back part ", the real meaning of which 
must be read between the lines, according to certain methods given to 
students. The Latin word terf^um, "back", is derived from the 
Hebrew or rather Aramaic and Chaldean targum. The Book of Daniel 
begins in Hebrew, and is fully comprehensible till chap, ii., v, 4, 
when the Chaldees (the Magician-Initiates) begin speaking to the king 
in Aramaic — not in Syriac, as mistranslated in the Protestant Bible. 
Daniel speaks in Hebrew before interpreting the king's dream to him; but 
explains the dream itself (chap, vii.) in Aramaic. " So in Ezra iv., 
V. and vi., the words of the kings being there literally quoted, all matters 
connected therewith are in Aramaic ", says Isaac Myer in his Qahhalah, 
The Targumim are of different ages, the latest already showing signs of 
the Massoretic or vowel-system, which made them still more full of 
intentional blinds. The precept of the Pirhe A both (c. i., § i), ** Make a 
fence to the Thorah " (law), has indeed been faithfully followed in the 
Bible as in the Targumim ; and wise is he who would interpret either 
correctly, unless he is an old Occultist-Kabbalist. 

Tashilhumpa (Tib.). The great centre of monasteries and colleges, 
three hours' walk from Tchigadze, the residence of the Teshu Lama 
for details of whom see ** Panchen Kimboche". It was built in 1445 
by the order of Tson-kha-pa. 

Tassissudun (Tib.). Lit., **the holy city of the doctrine"; 
inhabited, nevertheless, by more Dugpas than Saints, It is the resi- 
dential capital in Bhutan of the ecclesiastical Head of the Bhons — the 
Dharma Raja. The latter, though professedly a Northern Buddhist, is 
simply a worshipper of the old demon-gods of the aborigines, the 
nature-sprites or elementals, worshipped in the land before the intro- 
duction of Buddhism. All strangers are prevented from penetrating into 
Eastern or Great Tibet, and the few scholars who venture on their 
travels into those forbidden regions, are permitted to penetrate no further 

X 



322 THBOSOPHICAL 

than the border-lands of the land of Bod. They journey about Bhutan, 
Sikkhim, and elsewhere on the frontiers of the country, but can learn or 
know nothing of truo Tibet ; hence, nothing of the true Northern 
Buddhism or Lamaism of Tsong-kha-pa. And yet, while describing 
no more than the rites and beliefs of the Bhons and the travelling 
Shamans, they assure the world they are giving it the pure Northern 
Buddhism, and comment on its great fall from its pristine purity ! 

Tat (Eff.), An Egyptian symbol : an upright round standard taper- 
ing toward the summit, with four cross-pieces placed on the top. 
It was used as an amulet. The top part is a regular equilateral cross. 
This, on its phallic basis, represented the two principles of creation, 
the male and the female, and related to nature and cosmos ; but when 
the tat stood by itself, crowned with the atf (or atef)^ the triple crown 
of Horus — two feathers with the uraeiis in front — it represented the 
septenary man ; tlie cross, or the two cross-pieces, standing for the lower 
(luaternary, and the atf for ihc higher triad. As Dr. Birch well re- 
marks : ** Tlie four horizontal bars . . , represent the four founda- 
tions of all tilings, the tat being an emblem of stability". 

Tathagata (Sk,). '* One who is like the coming"; he who is, 
like his predecessors (the Buddhas) and successors, the coming future 
Buddha or World-Saviour. One of the titles of Gautama Buddha, 
and the highest epithet, since the first and the last Buddhas were the 
direct immediate avatars of the One Deity. 

Tathagatagupta (Sk,), Secret or concealed Tath&gata, or the 
** guardian " protecting Buddhas : used of the Nirminak^yas. 

Tattwa (^5A'.j. Eternally existing **That"; also, the different prin- 
ciples in Nature, in their occult meaning. Tattwa Samdsa is a work of 
Sankhya philosophy attributed to Kapihi himself. 

Also the abstract principles of existence or categories, physical and 
metaphysical. The subtle elements — ^\e exoterically, seven in 
esoteric philosophy — which are correlative to the five and the seven 
senses on the physical plane ; the last two senses are as yet latent in 
man, but will be developed in the two last root-races. 

Tau (Heb.J, That which has now become the square Hebrew letter 
tauy but was ages before the invention of the Jewish alphabet, the 
Egyptian handled cross, the crux ansata of the Latins, and identical with 
the Egyptian ankh. This mark belonged exclusively, and still belongs, to 
the Adepts of every country. As Kenneth R. F. Mackenzie shows, ** It 
was a symbol of salvation and consecration, and as such has been 
adopted as a Masonic symbol in the Royal Arch Degree ". It is also 
called the astronomical cross, and was used by the ancient Mexicans — 



GLOSSARY 323 

as its presence on one of the palaces at Palenque shows — as well as by 
the Hindus, who placed the tan as a mark on the brows of their 
Chelas. 

Taurus (Lat,), A most mysterious constellation of the Zodiac, one 
connected with all the ** First-born " solar gods. Taurus is under the 
asterisk A^ which is its figure in the Hebrew alphabet, that of Aleph ; 
and therefore that constellation is called the ** One", the ** First", after 
the said letter. Hence, the ** First-born ", to all of whom it was made 
sacred. The Bull is the symbol of force and procreative power — the 
Logos ; hence, also, the horns on the head of Isis, the female aspect of 
Osiris and Horus. Ancient mystics saw the ansated cross, in the horns 
of Taurus (the upper portion of the Hebrew Aleph) pushing away the 
Dragon, and Christians connected the sign and constellation with Christ. 
St. Augustine calls it " the great City of God ", and the Egyptians called 
it the ** interpreter of the divine voice ", the Apis-Pacis of Hermonthis. 
(See *» Zodiac".) 

Taygete (Gr,), One of tlis seven daughters of Atlas -the third, who 
became later one of the Pleiades. These seven daughters are said 
to typify the seven sub-races of the fourth root-race, that of the 
Atlanteans. 

[The Sanskrit words commencing with the letters Tch are^ owing to faulty 
transliteration^ misplaced^ and should come under C.] 

Tohaitya (Sk.), Any locality made sacred through some event in the 
life of Buddha ; a term signifying the same in relation to gods, and any 
kind of place or object of worship. 

Tohakohur (Sk,), The first Vidjndna (q-v,). Lit., ** the eye ", 
meaning the faculty of sight, or rather, an occult perception of spiritual 
and subjective realities {Chakshur), 

Tohakra, or Chakra (Sk,), A spell. The disk of Vishnu, which 
served as a weapon ; the wheel of the Zodiac, also the wheel of 
time, etc. With Vishnu, it was a symbol of divine authority. One of 
the sixt} -five figures of the Sripdda^ or the mystic foot-print of Buddha 
which contains that number of symbolical figures. The Tchakra is used 
in mesmeric phenomena and other abnormal practices. 

Tohandalas, or Chhanddlas (Sk,), Outcasts, or people without caste, a 
name now given to all the lower classes ot the Hindus ; but in antiquity 
it was applied to a certain class of men, who, having forfeited their 
right to any of the four castes— Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and 
Sudras — were expelled from cities and sought refuge in the forests. 
Then they became ** bricklayers ", until finally expelled they left the 
country, some 4,000 years before our era. Some see in them the 



324 THEOSOPHICAL 

ancestors of the earlier Jews, whose tribes began with A-brahm or '* No- 
Brahm '*. To this day it is the class most despised by the Brahmins 
in India. 

Tohandragapta, or Chandragupta (Sk.), The son of Nanda, the first 
Buddhist King of the Morya Dynasty, the grandfather of King Asoka, 
** the beloved of the gods *' (Piyadasi), 

Tohatur Mah&rfija (Sk,), The ** four kings", Devas, who guard the 
four quarters of the universe, and are connected with Karma. 

Toherno-Bog (Slavon,). Lit,, ** black god"; the chief deity of the 
ancient Slavonian nations. 

Tohertohen. An oasis in Central Asia, situated about 4,000 feet 
above the river Tchertchen Darya ; the very hot- bed and centre of 
ancient civilization, surrounded on all sides by numberless ruins, above 
and below ground, of cities, towns, and burial-places of every description. 
As the late Colonel Prjcvalski reported, the oasis is inhabited by some 
3,000 people ** representing the relics of abcut a hundred nations and 
races now extinct, the very names of which are at present unknown 
to ethnologists ". 

Tohhanda Riddhi Pada fSA.;. **The step of desire", a term used 
in Raja Yoga. It is the final renunciation of all desire as a sine qua non 
condition of phenomenal powers, and entrance on the direct path of 
Nirvana. 

Tohikitsa Yidya Sh&stra (Sk,), A treatise on occult medicine, which 
contains a nimiber of ** magic" prescriptions. It is one of the Pancha 
Vidyci Shdstras or Scriptures. 

Tohina (Sk,), The name of China in Buddhist works, the land 
being so called since the Tsin dynasty, which was established in the 
year 349 before our era. 

Tchitta Riddhi Pada (Sk,), -The step of memory." The third 
condition of the mystic series which leads to the acquirement of adept- 
ship ; i,e,, the renunciation of physical memory, and of all thoughts 
connected with worldly or personal events in one's life — benefits, 
personal pleasures or associations. Physical memory has to be sacri- 
ficed, and recalled by tvill pou'cr only when absolutely needed. The Riddhi 
Pada, lit. J the four ** Steps to Riddhi ", are the four modes of controlling 
and finally of annihilating desire, memory, and finally meditation itself — 
so far as these are connected with any effort of the physical brain — 
meditation then becomes absolutely spiritual, 

Tohitta Smriti Upasth&na (Sk,J, One of the four aims of Smriti 
Upasth('uiaji,e,f the keeping ever in mind the transitory character of man's 
life, and the incessant revolution of the wheel of existence. 



GLOSSARY 325 

Tebah (Heh.), Nature; which mystically and esoterically is the 
same as its personified Elohim, the numerical value of both words — 
Tebah and Elohim (or Aleim) being the same, namely 86. 

Tefnant (Eg,). One of the three deities who inhabit ** the land of 
the rebirth of gods" and good men, i,e., Aamroo (Devachan). The three 
deities are Scheo, Tefnant, and Seb. 

Telugu. One of the Dra vidian languages spoken in Southern India. 

Temura (Hch.). Lit,, "Change". The title of one division of the 
practical Kabaiah, treating of the analogies between words, the rela- 
tionship of which is indicated by certain changes in position of the letters, 
or changes by substituting one letter for another. 

Ten Pythagorean Virtues. Virtues of Initiation, &c., necessary 
before admission. (See ** Pythagoras".) They are identical with those 
prescribed by Manu, and the Buddhist Paramitas of Perfection. 

Teraphim (Hcb,). The same as Seraphim, or the Kabeiri Gods; 
serpent-images. The first Teraphim y according to legend, were received 
by Dardanus as a dowry, and brought by him to Samothrace and Troy. 
The idol-oracles of the ancient Jews. Rebecca stole them from her 
father Laban. 

Teratology. A Greek name coined by GeofFroi St. Hilaire to denote 
the pre-natal formation of monsters, both human and animal. 

Tetragrammaton. The four-lettered name of God, its Greek title : 
the four letters are in Hebrew ** yod, he, vau, h6 " ,or in English capitals, 
IHVH. The true ancient pronunciation is now unknown ; the sincere 
Hebrew considered this name too sacred for speech, and in reading the 
sacred writings he substituted the title *' Adonai ", meaning Lord. In 
the Kabbalah, I is associated with Chokmah, H with Binah, V with 
Tiphereth, and H final with Malkuth. Christians in general call IHVH 
Jehovah, and many modern Biblical scholars write it Yahveh. In the 
Secret Doctrine, the name Jehovah is assigned to Sephira Binah alone, 
but this attribution is not recognised by the Rosicrucian school of 
Kabbalists, nor by Mathers in his translation of Knorr Von Rosenroth's 
Kabbalah Denudata: certain Kabbalistic authorities have referred Binah 
alone to IHVH, but only in reference to the Jehovah of the exoteric 
Judaism. The IHVH of the Kabbalah has but a faint resemblance to 
the God of the Old Testament, [w.w.w.] 

The Kabbalah of Knorr von Rosenroth is no authority to the Eastern 
Kabbalists ; because it is well known tliat in writing his Kabbalah Denudata 
he followed the modern rather than the ancient (Chaldean) MSS. ; and it 
is equally well known that those MSS. and writings of the Zohar that are 
classified as ** ancient ", mention, and some even use, the Hebrew vowel 



326 THEOSOPHICAL 

or Massoretic points. This alone would make these would-be Zoharic 
books spurious, as there are no direct traces of the Massorah scheme 
before the tenth century of our era, nor any remote trace of it before the 
seventh. (See ** Tetraktys ".) 

Tetraktys (Gr.) or the Tetrad, The sacred ** Four *' by which the 
Pythagoreans swore, this being their most binding oath. It has a very 
mystic and varied signification, being the same as the Tetragrammaton. 
First of all it is Unity, or the ** One" under four different aspects; then 
it is the fundamental number Four, the Tetrad containing the Decad, or 
Ten, the number of perfection ; finally it signifies the primeval Triad 
(or Triangle) merged in the divine Monad. Kircher, the learned Kabbalist- 
Jcsuit, in his (Edipus A^gvpticus (II., p. 267), gives the Ineffable Name 
IHVH — one of the Kabbalistic formula; of the 72 names — arranged in 
the shape of the Pythagorean Tetrad. Mr. I. Myer gives it in this wise: 



I 




^ 


— 


10 


2 


The Ineffable 


rr 


= 


15 


3 


Name thus 


^r^ 


= 


21 


4 




mm 


= 


26 


10 








72 



He also shows that ** the sacred Tetrad of the Pythagoreans appears to 
have been known to the ancient Chinese *'. As explained in Isis Unveiled 
(1, xvi.) : The mystic Decad, the resultant of the Tetraktys, or the 
I _|. 2 4-3-1-4= 10, is ^ ^^y ^^ expressing this idea. The One is the imper- 
sonal principle * God ' ; the Two, matter ; the Three, combining Monad 
and Duad and partaking of the nature of both, is the phenomenal world; 
the Tetrad, or form of perfection, expresses the emptiness of all ; and the 
Decad, or sum of all, involves the entire Kosmos. 
Thalassa (Gr,), The sea. (See ** Thallath ".) 

Thales (Gr.J, The Greek philosopher of Miletus (circa 600 years B.C.) 
who taught that the whole universe was produced from water, while 
lieraclitus of Ephesus maintained that it was produced by fire, and 
Anaximenes by air. Thales, whose real name is unknown, took his name 
from Thallath, in accordance with the philosophy he taught. 

Thallath (Chald.j, The same as Thalassa. The goddess personifying 
the sea, identical with Tiamat and connected with Tamti and Belita. 
The goddess who gave birth to every variety of primordial monster in 
Berosus' account of cosmogony. 

Tharana (Sk,). ** Mesmerism ", or rather self-induced trance or self- 



GLOSSARY 3^7 

hypnotisation ; an action in India, which is of magical character and a 
kind of exorcism. LjY., ** to brush or sweep away " (evil influences, tharhn 
meaning a broom, and tharnhan, a duster) ; driving away the bad bhdts 
(bad aura and bad spirits) through the mesmeriser's beneficent will. 

Thaumatur^. Wonder or ** miracle-working " ; the power of 
working wonders with the help of gods. From the Greek words 
thauma^ ** wonder*', and theurgia, ** divine work ". 

Theanthropism. A state of being both god and man ; a divine 
Avatar (q*v.), 

Theiohel (Hcb,), The man-producing habitable globe, our earth in 
the Zohar. 

Theli (Chald,), The great Dragon said to environ the universe sym- 
bolically. In Hebrew letters it is TLI = 400 + 30+ 10 = 440: when "its 
crest [initial letter] is repressed ", said the Rabbis, 40 remains, or the 
equivalent of Mem; M= Water, the waters above the firmament. 
Evidently the same idea as symboHsed by Shesha — the Serpent of Vishnu. 

Theoorasy. L/r., ** mixing of gods*'. The worship of various 
gods, as that of Jehovah and the gods of the Gentiles in the case of the 
idolatrous Jews. 

Theodicy. ** Divine right", i,e , the privilege of an all-merciful 
and just God to afflict the innocent, and damn those predestined, and 
still remain a loving and just Deity : theologically — a mystery, 

Theodidaktos (Gr,). Lit,, "God-taught". Used of Ammonius Saccas, 
the founder of the Neo- Platonic Eclectic School of the Philalethae in the 
fourth century at Alexandria. 

Theo^ony. The genesis of the gods ; that branch of all non- 
Christian theologies which teaches the genealogy of the various deities. 
An ancient Greek name for that which was translated later as the 
" genealogy of the generation of Adam and the Patriarchs " — the latter 
being all " gods and planets and zodiacal signs ". 

Theomachy. Fighting with, or against the gods, such as the "War 
of the Titans ", the " War in Heaven " and the Battle of the Archangels 
(gods) against their brothers the Arch-fiends (ex-gods, Asurasy etc.). 

Theomanoy. Divination through oracles, from theos^ a god, and 
manteia, divination. 

Theopathy. Suffering for one's god. Religious fanaticism. 

Theophilanthropism (Gr,), Love to God and man, or rather, in the 
philosophical sense, love of God through love of Humanity. Certain 
persons who during the first revolution in France sought to replace 
Christianity by pure philanthropy and reason, called themselves theophi- 
lanthropists. 



328 THEOSOPHICAL 

Theophilosophy. Theism and philosophy combined. 

Theopneusty. Revelation ; something given or inspired by a god 
or divine being. Divine inspiration. 

TheopOBa (Or,), A magic art of endowing inanimate figures, statues, 
and other objects, with life, speech, or locomotion. 

Theosophia (Gr,), Wisdom-religion, or ** Divine Wisdom ". The 
substratum and basis of all the world-religions and philosophies, taught 
and practised by a few elect ever since man became a thinking being. 
In its practical bearing, Theosophy is purely divine ethics ; the definitions 
in dictionaries are pure nonsense, based on religious prejudice and ignor- 
ance of the true spirit of the early Rosicrucians and mediaeval philoso- 
phers who called themselves Theosophists. 

Theosophioal Sooiety, or ** Universal Brotherhood ". Founded in 
1875 ^t New York, by Colonel H. S. Olcott and H. P. Blavatsky, helped 
by W. Q. Judge and several others. Its avowed object was at first the 
scientific investigation of psychic or so-called ** spiritualistic *' phenomena, 
after which its three chief objects were declared, namely (i) Brotherhood 
of man, without distinction of race, colour, religion, or social position ; 
(2) the serious study of the ancient world-religions for purposes of com- 
parison and the selection therefrom of universal ethics ; (3) the study and 
development of the latent divine powers in man. At the present moment 
it has over 250 Branches scattered all over the world, most of which are 
in India, where also its chief Headquarters are established. It is com- 
posed of several large Sections — the Indian, the American, the Australian, 
and the European Sections. 

Theosophists. A name by which many mystics at various periods 
of history have called themselves. The Neo-Platonists of Alexandria 
were Theosophists ; the Alchemists and Kabbalists during the mediaeval 
ages were likewise so called, also the Martinists, the Quietists, and 
other kinds of mystics, whether acting independently or incorporated 
in a brotherhood or society. All real lovers of divine Wisdom and 
Truth had, and have, a right to the name, rather than those who, appro- 
priating the qualification, live lives or perform actions opposed to the 
principles of Theosophy. As described by Brother Kenneth R. Macken- 
zie, the Theosophists of the past centuries — ** entirely speculative, and 
founding no schools, have still exercised a silent influence upon philosophy; 
and, no doubt, when the time arrives, many ideas thus silently pro- 
pounded may yet give new directions to human thought. One of the 
ways in which these doctrines have obtained not only authority, but 
power, has been among certain enthusiasts in the higher degrees of 
Masonry. This power has, however, to a great degree died with the 
founders, and modern Freemasonry contains few traces of theosophic 



GLOSSARY 329 

influence. However accurate and beautiful some of the ideas of Sweden- 
borg, Pernetty, Paschalis,Saint Martin, Marconis, Ragon, and Chastanier 
may have been, they have but little direct influence on society." This is 
true of the Theosophists of the last three centuries, but not of the later ones. 
For the Theosophists of the current century have already visibly 
impressed themselves on modem literature, and introduced the desire and 
craving for some philosophy in place of the blind dogmatic faith of yore, 
among the most intelligent portions of human-kind. Such is the difler- 
ence between past and modern Theosophy. 

Therapeutse f^Gr.j oxTherapeutes. A school of Esotericists, which was 
an inner group within Alexandrian Judaism and not, as generally believed, 
a ** sect ". They were ** healers" in the sense that some *' Christian " 
and ** Mental " Scientists, members of the T.S., are healers, while they 
are at the same time good Theosophists and students of the esoteric 
sciences. Philo Judaeus calls them ** servants of god ". As justly shown 
in A Dictionary of , , , Literature^ Sects, and Doctrines (Vol. IV., 
art. ** Philo Judaeus ") in mentioning the Therapeutes — ** There appears 
no reason to think of a special * sect ', but rather of an esoteric circle of 
illuminatiy of * wise men * . . . They were contemplative Hellenistic 
Jews." 

Thermutis f^g')' The asp-crown of the goddess Isis ; also the name 
of the legendary daughter of Pharaoh who is alleged to have saved 
Moses from the Nile. 

Thero (Pali). A priest of Buddha. Therunnanse, also. 

Theur^a, or Theurgy (Gr,), A communication with, and means of 
bringing down to earth, planetary spirits and angels — the "gods of Light". 
Knowledge of the inner meaning of their hierarchies, and purity of life 
alone can lead to the acquisition of the powers necessary for communion 
with them. To arrive at such an exalted goal the aspirant must be 
absolutely worthy and unselfish. 

Theurgist. The first school of practical theurgy (from ^cos, god, 
and cpyov, work,) in the Christian period, was founded by lamblichus 
among certain Alexandrian Platonists. The priests, however, who were 
attached to the temples of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia and Greece, and 
whose business it was to evoke the gods during the celebration of the 
Mysteries, were known by this name, or its equivalent in other tongues, 
from the earliest archaic period. Spirits (but not those of the dead, the 
evocation of which was called Necromancy) were made visible to the eyes 
of mortals. Thus a theurgist had to be a hierophant and an expert in 
the esoteric learning of the Sanctuaries of all great countries. The Neo- 
platonists of the school of lamblichus were called theurgists, for they 
performed the so-called ** ceremonial magic ", and evoked the simulacra or 



330 THEOSOPHICAL 

the images of the ancient heroes, **gods'\ and daimonia (8at^ovia, divine, 
spiritual entities). In the rare cases when the presence of a tangible and 
visibU ** spirit " was required, the theurgist had to furnish the weird 
apparition with a portion of his own flesh and blood — he had to perform 
the thtopaa, or the ** creation of gods ", by a mysterious process well 
known to the old, and perhaps some of the modern, Tdntrikas and initiated 
Brahmans of India. Such is what is said in the Book of Evocations of the 
pagodas. It shows the perfect identity of rites and ceremonial between 
the oldest Brahmanic theurgy and that of the Alexandrian Platonists. 

The following is from his Unveiled : ** The Brahman Grihasta (the 
evocator) must be in a state of complete purity before he ventures to call 
forth the Pitris. After having prepared a lamp, some sandal-incense, 
etc., and having traced the magic circles taught him by the superior 
Guru, in order to keep away bad spirits, he ceases to breathe, and calls 
the fire (Kundalini) to his help to disperse his body." He pronounces a 
certain number of times the sacred word, and ** his soul (astral body) 
escapes from its prison, his body disappears, and the soul (image) 
of the evoked spirit descends into the double body and animates it". Then 
** his (the theurgist *s) soul (astral) re-enters its body, whose subtile 
particles have again been aggregating (to the objective sense), after 
having formed from themselves an aerial body for the deva (god or spirit) 
he evoked ". . . . And then, the operator propounds to the latter 
questions ** on the mysteries of Being and the transformation of the 
imperishable '\ The popular prevailing idea is that the theurgists, as well 
as the magicians, worked wonders, such as evoking the souls or shadows 
of the heroes and gods, and other thaumaturgic works, by super- 
natural powers. But this never was the fact. They did it simply by the 
liberation of their own astral body, which, taking the form of a god or 
hero, served as a medium or vehicle through which the special current 
preserving the ideas and knowledge of that hero or god could be reached 
and manifested. (See ** lamblichus ".) 

Thirty-two Ways of Wisdom (Kab,), The Zohar says that Chochmah 
or Hokhmah (wisdom) generates all things " by means of (these) thirty- 
two paths ", (Zohar iii., 2goaJ. The full account of them is found in the 
Sepher Yezirah, wherein letters and numbers constitute as entities the 
Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom, by which the Elohim built the whole 
Universe, P'or, as said elsewhere, the brain ** hath an outlet from Zeir 
Anpin, and therefore it is spread and goes out to thirty-two ways". Zeir 
Anpin, tlie ** Short Face " or the ** Lesser Countenance", is the Heavenly 
Adam, Adam Kadmon, or Man. Man in the Zoliar is looked upon as the 
twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet to which the decad is added ; 
and hence the thirty-two symbols of his faculties or paths. 



GLOSSARY 331 

Thohu-Bohu (Heh.). From Tohoo — ** the Deep'* 2indBohu ** primeval 
Space '* — or the Deep of Primeval Space, loosely rendered as ** Chaos '* 
** Confusion " and so on. Also spelt and pronounced ** tohu-bohu ". 

Thomei (Eg,), The Goddess of Justice, with eyes bandaged and holding 
a cross. The same as the Greek Themis. 

T\LOv(Scand,), From TJwnar to *' thunder ". The son of Odin and 
Freya, and the chief of all Elemental Spirits. The god of thunder, 
Jupiter Tonans, The word Thursday is named after Thor. Among the 
Romans Thursday was the day of Jupiter, jfovis dies, Jeiidi in French — 
the fifth day of the week, sacred also to the planet Jupiter. 

Thorah (Heb,), ** Law ", written down from the transposition of the 
letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Of the ** hidden Thorah " it is said that 
before At-tee-kah (the ** Ancient of all the Ancients ") had arranged 
Itself into limbs (or members) preparing Itself to manifest, It willed to 
create a Thorah ; the latter upon being produced addressed It in these 
words : " It, that wishes to arrange and to appoint other things, should 
first of all, arrange Itself in Its proper Forms". In other words, Thorah, 
the Law, snubbed its Creator from the moment of its birth, according to 
the above, which is an interpolation of some later Talmudist. As it grew 
and developed, the mystic Law of the primitive Kabbalist was trans- 
formed and made by the Rabbins to supersede in its dead letter every 
metaphysical conception; and thus the Rabbinical and Talmudistic Law 
makes Ain Soph and every divine Principle subservient to itself, and 
turns its back upon the true esoteric interpretations. 

Thor's Hammer. A weapon which had. the form of the Svastika ; 
called by European Mystics and Masons the ** Hermetic Cross ", and 
also **Jaina Cross", croix cramponnee ; the most archaic, as the most 
sacred and universally respected symbol, (See ** Svastika ".) 

Thoth (Eg,), The most mysterious and the least understood of gods, 
whose personal character is entirely distinct from all other ancient 
deities. While the permutations of Osiris, Isis, Horus, and the rest, are 
so numberless that their individuality is all but lost, Thoth remains 
changeless from the first to the last Dynasty. He is the god of wisdom 
and of authority over all other gods. He is the recorder and the judge. 
His ibis-head, the pen and tablet of the celestial scribe, who records the 
thoughts, words and deeds of men and weighs them in the balance, liken 
him to the type of the esoteric Lipikas, His name is one of the first that 
appears on the oldest monuments. He is the lunar god of the first 
dynasties, the master of Cynocephalus — the dog-headed ape who stood 
in Egypt as a living symbol and remembrance of the Third Root-Race. 
(Secret DoctrifUy II. pp. 184 and 185). He is the ** Lord of Hermopolis *' 



33^ theosophical 

— Janus. Hermes and Mercun.* cGmhined. He is crowned with an atef 
and the lunar disk, and bears the •* Eye of Horus ", the tkird eye, in his 
hand. He is the Greek Herines, the g-od of learning, and Hermes 
Trismegistus, the " Thrice-crea: Hermes *". the patron of physical sciences 
and trie patP'n and ver\- so-ii of the occult esc-teric knowledge. As 
Mr. J. Bon-A-ick. F.R.G.5.. boantifnlly expresses it: ** Thoth . . . 
has a powerful effect on the imagination ... in this intricate yet 
beautif:;! ph.intasn^.agori-i of thought and moral sentiment of that 
shadow}- past. It is in vain we ask ourselves however man, in the 
infancy of this world of humanit)-, in the rudeness of supposed incipient 
civilization, could have dreamed of such a heavenly being as Thoth- 
The lines are so delicately drawn, so intimately and tastefully interwoven, 
that we seem to regard a pictiire designed by the genius of a Milton, and 
executed with the skill of a Raphael." Verily, there was some truth in 
that old saying. •' The wisdom of tiie Egyptians**. . . . "When it is 
shown that the wife of Cephren, builder of the second Pyramid, was a 
priestess of Thoth, one sees that the ideas comprehended in him were 
fixed 6,000 years ago ". According to Plato, " Thoth-Hemies was the 
discoverer and inventor of numbers, geometry, astronomy and letters ". 
Proclus, the disciple of Plotinus, speaking of this mysterious deity, says : 
" He presides over ever}' species of condition, leading us to an intelligible 
essence from this mortal abode, governing the different herds of souls '*. 
In other words Thoth, as the Registrar and Recorder of Osiris in 
Amenti, the Judgment Hall of the Dead was a psychopompic deity ; 
while lamblichus hints that ** the cross with a handle (the thau or tau) 
which Tot holds in his hand, was none other than the monogram of his 
name '*. Besides the Tau, as the prototype of Mercury, Thoth carries 
the serpent-rod, emblem of Wisdom, the rod that became the Caduceus. 
Says Mr. Bon wick, ** Hermes was the serpent itself in a mystical sense. 
He glides like that creature, noiselessly, without apparent exertion, along 
the course of ages. He is . . . a representative of the spangled 
heavens. But he is the foe of the bad serpent, for the ibis devoured the 
snakes of Egypt.' 

Thothori Nyan Tsan (Tib,) A King of Tibet in the fourth century. 
It is narrated that during his reign he was visited by five mysterious 
strangers, who revealed to him how he might use for his country's 
MveKare four precious things which had fallen down from heaven, in 331 a.d., 
in a golden casket and ** the use of which no one knew". These were 
(i) hands folded as the Buddhist ascetics fold them; (2) a be-jewelled 
Shorten (a Stupa built over a receptacle for relics) ; (3) a gem inscribed 
with the ** Aum mani padme hum *' ; and (4) the Zamatog, a religious 
work on ethics, a part of the Kanjur. A voice from heaven then told 



GLOSSARY 333 

the King that after a certain number of generations every one would 
learn how precious these four things were. The number of generations 
stated carried the world to the seventh century, when Buddhism became 
the accepted religion of Tibet. Making an allowance for legendary 
licence, the four things fallen from heaven, the voice, and the five 
mysterious strangers, may be easily seen to have been historical facts. 
They were without any doubt five Arhats or Bhikshus from India, on 
their proselytising tour. Many were the Indian sages who, persecuted 
in India for their new faith, betook themselves to Tibet and China, 

Thrsetaona (Mazd,) The Persian Michael, who contended with Zohak 
or Azhi-Dahaka, the destroying serpent. In the A vesta Azhi-Dahaka is 
a three-headed monster, one of whose heads is human, and the two 
others Ophidian. Dahaka, who is shown in the Zoroastrian Scrip- 
tures as coming from Babylonia, stands as the allegorical symbol of 
the Assyrian dynasty of King Dahaka (Az-Dahaka) which ruled Asia 
with an iron hand, and whose banners bore the purple sign of the 
dragon, purpureum signum draconis. Metapliysically, however, the human 
head denotes the physical man, and the two serpent heads the dual 
manasic principles — the dragon and serpent both standing as symbols 
of wisdom and occult powers. 

Thread Soul. The same as Sutrdtmd (q*v,). 

Three Decrees (of Initiation). Every nation had its exoteric and 
esoteric religion, the one for the masses, the other for the learned and 
elect. P'or example, the Hindus had three degrees with several sub- 
degrees. The Egyptians had also three preliminary degrees, personified 
under the ** three guardians of the fire " in the Mysteries. The Chinese 
had their most ancient Triad Society : and the Tibetans have to this day 
their ** triple step " ; which was symbolized in the Vedas by the three 
strides of Vishnu. Everywhere antiquity shows an unbounded reverence 
for the Triad and Triangle — the first geometrical figure. The old 
Babylonians had their three stages of initiation into the priesthood 
(which was then esoteric knowledge) ; the Jews, the Kabbalists and 
mystics borrowed them from the Chaldees, and the Christian Church 
from the Jews. ** There are Two", says Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, ** in 
conjunction with One ; hence they are Three, and if they are Three, then 
they are One." 

Three Faces. The TrinnMi of the Indian Pantheon ; the three 
persons of the one godhead. Says the Book oj Precepts: *' There are two 
Faces, one in Tushita (Devachan) and one in Myalba (earth) ; and the 
Highest Holy unites them and finally absorbs both." 

Three Fires (Occult). The name given to Atma-Buddhi-Manas, which 
when united become one. 



334 THEOSOPHICAL 

Thsang Thisrong tsan (Tib.), A king who flourished between the 
years 728 and 787, and who invited from Bengal Pandit Rakshit, called 
for his great learning Bodhisattva, to come and settle in Tibet, in order 
to teach Buddhist philosophy to his priests. 

Thflmi Sambhota (Sk.). An Indian mystic and man of erudition, 
the inventor of the Tibetan alphabet. 

Thummim (Heh.), ** Perfections." An ornament on the breastplates 
of the ancient High Priests of Judaism. Modern Rabbins and Hebraists 
may well pretend they do not know the joint purposes of the Thummim 
and the Urim ; but the Kabbalists do and likewise the Occultists. They 
were the instruments of magic divination and oracular communication — 
theurgic and astrological. This is shown in the following well-known 
facts: — (i) upon each of the twelve precious stones was engraved the 
name of one of the twelve sons of Jacob, each of these ** sons" personat- 
ing one of the signs of the zodiac ; (2) both were oracular images, like the 
teraphim, and uttered oracles by a voice, and both were agents for hypnoti- 
sation and throwing the priests who wore them into an ecstatic condition. 
The Urivi and Thummim were not original with the Hebrews, but had 
been borrowed, like most of their other religious rites, from the 
Egyptians, with whom the mystic scarabaeus, worn on the breast by the 
Hierophants, had the same functions. They were thus purely heathen and 
magical modes of divination; and when the Jewish ** Lord God" was 
called upon to manifest his presence and speak out his will through 
the Ufim by preliminary incantations, the modus operandi was the same as 
that used by all the Gentile priests the world over. 

Thumos (Gr,). The astral, animal soul; the Kama-Manas; Thumos 
means passion, desire and confusion and is so used by Homer. The word 
is probably derived from the Sanskit TamaSy which has the same meaning. 

Tia-Huanaco fPeruv.). Most magnificent ruins of a pre-historic city in 
Peru. 

Tiamat (Chald.). A female dragon personifying the ocean ; the 
**great mother'' or the Hving principle of cliaos. Tiamat wanted to 
swallow Bel, but Bel sent a wind which entered her open mouth and 
killed Tiamat. 

Tiaou (Eg-)' A kind of Devachanic /o5^ mortem state. 
Tien-Hoang (Chin.), Tlie twelve hierarchies of Dhytinis. 

Tien-Sin (Chin.). Lit,, ** the heaven of mind ", or abstract, subjective, 
ideal heaven. A metaphysical term applied to the Absolute, 

Tikkun (Chald,), Manifested Man or Adam Kadmon, the first ray 
from the manifested Logos, 



GLOSSARY 335 

Tiphereth (H^h,), Beauty; the sixth of the ten Sephiroth, a mascu- 
line active potency, corresponding to the Vau, V, of theTetragranimaton 
IHVH ; also called Melekh or King ; and the Son. It is the central 
Sephira of the six which compose Zauir Anpin, the Microprosopus, or 
Lesser Countenance. It is translated ** Beauty " and ** Mildness". 

Tirthakas, or Tirthika and Tirthyas fSk.). " Heretical teachers." 
An epithet applied by the Buddhist ascetics to the Brahmans and 
certain Yogis of India. 

Tirthankara (Sk.), Jaina saints and chiefs, of which there are 
twenty-four. It is claimed that one of them was the spiritual Guru of 
Gautama Buddha. Tirthankara is a synonym of Jaina. 

Tiryaksrota (Sk.). From firyak ** crooked", and srotas (digestive) 
** canal ". The name of the ** creation " by Brahma of men or beings, 
whose stomachs were, on account of their erect position as bipeds, in a 
horizontal position. This is a Puranic invention, absent in Occultism. 

Tishya (Sk,). The same as Kaliyuga, the Fourth Age. 

Titans (Gr,), Giants of divine origin in Greek mythology who made 
war against the gods. Prometheus was one of them. 

Titikshd (Sk.). Lit., ** long-suffering, patience". Titiksha, daughter of 
Daksha and wife of Dharma (divine law) is its personification. 

To On (Gr.). The " Being ", the " Ineffable All " of Plato. He " whom 
no person has seen except the Son ". 

Tobo (Gnost.). In the Codex Nazaraus, a mysterious being which bears 
the soul of Adam from Orcus to the place of life, and thence is called 
** the liberator of the soul of Adam". 

Todas. A mysterious people of India found in the unexplored fast- 
nesses of Nilgiri (Blue) Hills in the Madras Presidency, whose origin, 
language and religion are to this day unknown. They are entirely 
distinct, ethnically, philologically, and in every other way, from the 
Badagas and the Mulakurumbas, two other races found on the same 
hills. 

Toom (Eg.). A god issued from Osiris in his character of the Great Deep 
Noot. He is the Protean god who generates other gods, ** assuming the 
form he likes ". He is Fohat. {Secret Doctriniy I., 673.) 

Tope. An artificial mound covering relics of Buddha or some 
other great Arhat. The Topes are also called Dagobas. 

Tophet (Heb.). A place in the valley of Gehenna, near Jerusalem, 
where a constant fire was kept burning, in whicli children were immolated 
to Baal. The locality is thus the prototype of the Christian Hell, the 
fiery Gehenna of endless woe. 



336 THEOSOPHICAL 

Toralva, Dr, Eugene, A physician who lived in the fourteenth 
century, and who received as a gift from Friar Pietro, a great magician 
and a Dominican monk, a demon named Zequiel to be his faithful 
servant. (See Isis Unveiled , 11., 60.) 

Toyambudhi (Sk.). A country in the northern part of which lay the 
** White Island " — Shvcta Dn'ipa — one of the seven Purknic islands or 
continents. 

Trailokya, or Trilokya (Sk.), Lit,, the ** tliree regions " or worlds ; the 
complementary triad to the Brahmanical quaternary of worlds named 
Bhuvanatraya, A Buddhist profane layman will mention only three 
divisions of every world, while a non-initiated Brahman will maintain that 
there are four. The four divisions of the latter are purely physical and 
sensuous, the Trailokya of the Buddhist are purely spiritual and ethical. The 
Brahmanical division may be found fully described under the heading of 
Vyahritis, the difference beinj^ for the present sufficiently shown in the 
following parallel : — 

Brahmanical Division of the Worlds. Buddhist Division of the Regions, 

1. Bhur, earth. i. World of desire, Kdmadhdtu or 

Kdmaloka, 

2. Bhuvah, heaven, firmament. 2. World of form, Riipadhdtu. 

3. Sivar, atmosphere, the skv. ) -ru r 1 ^^ a ^j. j;^i 

-^ HT 1 i.11- " > ^' ihetonmesswondyAruf'adhdtu. 

4. Mahar, eternal lummous essence. ) -^ ^ 

All these are the worlds of post mortem states. For instance, 
Kdmaloka or Kamadhtltu, tlie region of Mara, is that which mediaeval 
and modern Kabalists call the world of astral light, and the ** world 
of shells ". Kdmaloka has, like every other region, its seven divisions, 
the lowest of which begins on earth or invisibly in its atmosphere ; the 
six others ascend gradually, the highest being the abode of those who have 
died owing to accident, or suicide in a tit of temporary insanity, or were 
otherwise victims of external forces. It is a place where all those 
who have died before the end of the term allotted to them, and whose higher 
principles do not, therefore, go at once into Devachanic state — sleep a 
dreamless sweet sleep of oblivion, at tlie termination of which they are 
either reborn immediately, or pass gradually into the Devachanic state. 
Riipadhdtu is tlie celestial world oi form, or what we call Devdchdn, With 
the uninitiated Brahmans, Chinese and other Buddhists, the Rupadhatu is 
divided into cigliteen Brahma or Deualokas ; the life of a soul therein lasts 
from half a Yuga up to 16,000 Yugas or Kalpas, and the height of the 
**Sliades" is from half a Yojana up to 16,000 Yojanas (a Yojana 
measuring from five and a half to ten miles ! !), and such -like theological 
twaddle evolved from priestly brains. But the Esoteric Philosophy 
teaches that though for the Egos for the time being, everything or every- 



GLOSSARY 337 

one preserves its form (as in a dream), yet as Rupadhatu is a purely mental 
region, and a state, the Egos themselves have no form outside their own 
consciousness. Esotericism divides this " region" into seven Dhy^nas, 
** regions*', or states of contemplation, which are not localities but mental 
representations of these. Ariipadhdtu: this "region " is again divided into 
seven Dhyanas, still more abstract and formless, for this ** World '* is 
without any form or desire whatever. It is the highest region of the 
post fnortem Trailokya ; and as it is the abode of those who are almost 
ready for Nirvana, and is, in fact, the very threshold of the Nirvanic 
state, it stands to reason that 'in Arupadhatu (or Arupavachara) there 
can be neither form nor sensation, nor any feeling connected with our 
three dimensional Universe. 

Trees of Life. From the highest antiquity trees were connected 
with the gods and mystical forces in nature. Every nation had its sacred 
tree, with its pecuHar characteristics and attributes based on natural, 
and also occasionally on occult properties, as expounded in the esoteric 
teachings. Thus the peepul or As hvatt ha of India, the abode of Pitris 
(elementals in fact) of a lower order, became the Bo-tree or ^cus 
religiosa of the Buddhists the world over, since Gautama Buddha reached 
the highest knowledge and Nirvana under such a tree. The ash tree, 
Yggdrasil, is the world-tree of the Norsemen or Scandinavians. The 
banyan tree is the symbol of spirit and matter, descending to the earth, 
striking root, and then re-ascending heavenward again. The triple- 
leaved paldsa is a symbol of the triple essence in the Universe— Spirit, 
Soul, Matter. The dark cypress was the world-tree of Mexico, and is now 
with the Christians and Mahomedans the emblem of death, of peace 
and rest. The fir was held sacred in Egypt, and its cone was carried in 
religious processions, though now it has almost disappeared from the 
land of the mummies ; so also was the sycamore, the tamarisk, the palm 
and the vine. The sycamore was the Tree of Life in Egypt, and also in 
Assyria. It was sacred to Hathor at Heliopolis ; and is now sacred in 
the same place to the Virgin Mary. Its juice was precious by virtue of 
its occult powers, as the Soma is with Brahmans, and Haoma with the 
Parsis. ** The fruit and sap of the Tree of Life bestow immortality.'* 
A large volume might be written upon these sacred trees of antiquity, 
the reverence for some of which has survived to this day, without 
exhausting the subject. 

Trefoil. Like the Irish shamrock, it has a symbolic meaning, ** the 
three-in-one mystery " as an author calls it. It crowned the head of 
Osiris, and the wreath fell off when Typhon killed the radiant god. Some 
see in it a phallic significance, but we deny this idea in Occultism. It 
was the plant of Spirit, Soul, and Life. 



33' 



THEOSOPHICAL 



TretA Tq^ /.S^. .. The stcond a^^e of the worid. a period of 
1,2^/j.^xxj years. 

Triad, '>r .^^^ Tkrei. The ten Sephiroth are contemplated as a 
jjroip of three triads: Kether. Ch^jchmihanl Binah form the supernal 
triad ; Thesed. Gehurah ar.d Tiphereth. the s^^ond ; ani Xetzach. Hod 
and Y€:50«i. the interior triad. The tenth Sephira. Malkurh, is beyond 
the three triads, '.v.-.v.w. 

The above is orthvi>x Western Kahalah. Eastern Occultists recog- 
nise but one triad — the upper one i corresp>onding to Atma-Buddhi and 
the *• Envelope " which reflects their light, the three in one) — and count 
seven lower Sephiroth. ever\' one of which stands for a " principle **, 
beginning with the Higher Mana:^ and ending with the Physical Body — 
of which Malkuth is the representative in the Microcosm and the 
Earth in the Macrocosm. 

Tri-bhllTana, or Tri-ioka fSk,). The three worlds — Swarga, Bhumi, 
Fatala — or, Heaven. Earth, and Hell in popular beliefs; esoterically, 
these are the Spiritual and Psychic (or Astral i regions, and the Terres- 
trial sphere. 

Tridandi (Sk,). The name generally given to a class or sect of 
Sanyasis, who constantly keep in the hand a kind of club (dandaj 
branching off into three rods at the top. The word is variously 
etymologized, and some give the name to the triple Brahmanical 
thread. 

Tri-daBha fSk,), Three times ten or •' thirty '*. This is in round 
n!iml>ers the sum of the Indian Pantheon — the thirty-three crores of 
deities -th'- twelve Adityas, the eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras and the 
two Ashvins, or thirty-thru kotis, or 330 millions of gods.^ 

Tri^unas fSk.j. The three divisions of the inherent qualities of 
diffen.-ntiated matter--/.^., of pure quiescence (satva), of activity and 
d(!sire (rajas), of stagnation and decay (tamos J, They correspond with 
Vishnu, lirahma, and Shiva. (See ** Trimiirti ".) 

Trijn&na, fSk.). Lit., '* triple knowledge". This consists of three 
degrees: (i) belief on faith; (2) belief on theoretical know^ledge ; and 
(3) belief through personal and practical knowledge. 

Trik&ya fSk,), Lit,, three bodies, or forms. This is a most abstruse 
teaching which, however, once understood, explains the mystery of 
every triad or trinity, and is a true key to every three-fold metaphysical 
symbol. In its most simple and comprehensive form it is found in the 
human Entity in its triple division into spirit, soul, and body, and in 
the universe, regarded pantheistically, as a unity composed of a Deific, 
purely spiritual Principle, Supernal Beings — its direct rays — and 



GLOSSARY 339 

Humanity. The origin of this is found in the teachings of the pre- 
historic Wisdom Religion, or Esoteric Philosophy. The grand Panthe- 
istic ideal, of the unknown and unknowable Essence being transformed 
first into subjective, and then into objective matter, is at the root of all 
these triads and triplets. Thus we find in philosophical Northern 
Buddhism (i) Adi-Buddha (or Primordial Universal Wisdom) ; (2) the 
Dhyani-Buddhas (or Bodhisattvas); (3) the Manushi (Human) Buddhas. 
In European conceptions we find the same : God, Angels and Humanity 
symbolized theologically by the God-Man. The Brahmanical Trimurti and 
also the three-fold body of Shiva, in Shaivism, have both been conceived 
on the same basis, if not altogether running on the lines of Esoteric 
teachings. Hence, no wonder if one finds this conception of the 
triple body — or the vestures of Nirm^nakdya, Sambhogak^ya and 
Dharmakaya, the grandest of the doctrines of Esoteric Philosophy — 
accepted in a more or less disfigured form by every religious sect, and 
explained quite incorrectly by the Orientalists. Thus, in its general 
application, the three-fold body symbolizes Buddha's statue, his teach- 
ings and his stupas ; in the priestly conceptions it applies to the 
Buddhist profession of faith called the Triratna, which is the formula of 
taking ** refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha". Popular fancy 
makes Buddha ubiquitous, placing him thereby on a par with an 
anthropomorphic god, and lowering him to the level of a tribal deity ; 
and, as a result, it falls into flat contradictions, as in Tibet and China. 
Thus the exoteric doctrine seems to teach that while in his Nirmana- 
k^ya body (which passed through 100,000 kotis of transformations on 
earth), he^ Buddha, is at the same time a Lochana (a heavenly 
Dhyani-Bodhisattva), in his Sambhogakaya **robe of absolute complete- 
ness", and in Dhyana, or a state which must cut him off from the world 
and all its connections ; and finally and lastly he is, besides being a 
Nirmanak^ya and a Sambhogakaya, also a Dharmakaya "of absolute 
purity ", a Vairotchana or Dhy^ni-Buddha in full Nirvana ! (See Eitel's 
Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary.) This is the jumble of contradictions, impossible 
to reconcile, which is given out by missionaries and certain Orientalists 
as the philosophical dogmas of Northern Buddhism. If not an intentional 
confusion of a philosophy dreaded by the upholders of a religion based 
on inextricable contradictions and guarded ** mysteries*', then it is the 
product of ignorance. As the Trailokya, the Trikiya, and the Triratna 
are the three aspects of the same conceptions, and have to be, so to say, 
blended in one, the subject is further explained under each of these 
terms. (See also in this relation the term ** Trisharana".) 

Tri-kfita (Sk.), Lit., ** three peaks ". The mountain on which 
Lank4 (modem Ceylon) and its city were built. It is said, allegorically, 



••» 



340 THFOSOPHICAL 

to be a mountain range running south from Meru. And so no doubt it 
was before Lanka was submerged, leaving now but the highest summits 
of that range out of the waters. Submarine topography and geological 
formation must have considerably changed since the Miocene period. 
There is a legend to the effect that Vayu, the god of the wind, broke 
the summit off Meru and cast it into the sea, where it forthwith became 
Lanka. 

Trilcohana (Sk,). Lit., ** three-eyed ", an epithet of Shiva. It is 
narrated that while the god was engaged one day on a Himalayan 
summit in rigid austerities, his wife placed her hand lovingly on his third 
eye, which burst from Shiva's forehead with a great flame. This is the 
eye which reduced Kama, the god of love (as Mira, the tempter), to ashes, 
for trying to inspire him during his devotional meditation with thoughts 
of his wife. 

Trimfirti (Sk.). Lit., ** three faces", or "triple form "—the Trinity. 
In the modern Pantheon these three persons are Brahma, the creator, 
Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer. But this is an after- 
thought, as in the Vedas neither Brahma nor Shiva is known, and 
the Vedic trinity consists of Agni, Vayu and Siirya ; or as the 
Nirukta explains it, the terrestrial fire, the atmospheric (or aerial), and 
the heavenly fire, since Agni is the god of fire, Vayu of the air, and 
Siirya is the sun. As the Padnia Pur ana has it : ** In the beginning, 
the great Vishnu, desirous of creating the whole world, became threefold : 
creator, preserver, destroyer. In order to produce this world, the Supreme 
Spirit emanated from the right side of his body, himself, as Brahmd ; 
then, in order to preserve the universe, he produced from the left side of 
.his body Vishnu ; and in order to destroy the world he produced from the 
middle of his l)ody the eternal Shiva. Some worship Brahma, some 
Vishnu, others Shiva; but Vishnu, one yet threefold, creates, preserves, 
and destroys, therefore let the pious make no difference between the 
three." The fact is, that all the three** persons" of theTrimilrti are simply 
the three qualificative gunas or attributes of the universe of differentiated 
Spirit- Matter, self- formative, self-preserving and self-destroying, for 
purposes of regeneration and perfectibility. This is the correct 
meaning; and it is shown in Brahma being made the personified embodi- 
ment of Rajoguna, the attribute or quality of activity, of desire for pro- 
creation, that desire owing to which the universe and everything in 
it is called into being. X'ishnu is the embodied Sattvaguna, that 
property of preservation arising from quietude and restful enjoyment, 
which characterizes the intermediate period between the full growth and 
the beginning of decay ; while Shiva, being embodied Jamoguna — which 



GLOSSARY 34I 

is the attribute of stagnancy and final decay — becomes of course the 
destroyer. This is as highly philosophical under its mask of anthropo- 
morphism, as it is unphilosophical and absurd to hold to and enforce on 
the world the dead letter of the original conception. 

Trinity. Everyone knows the Christian dogma of the ** three in one " 
and ** one in three "; therefore it is useless to repeat that which may be 
found in every catechism. Athanasius, the Church Father who defined the 
Trinity as a dogma, had little necessity of drawing upon inspiration or his 
own brain power ; he had but to turn to one of the innumerable trinities of 
the heathen creeds, or to the Egyptian priests, in whose country he had 
lived all his life. He modified slightly only one of the three ** persons *'. 
All the triads of the Gentiles were composed of the Father, Mother, and 
the Son. By making it ** Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ", he changed 
the dogma only outwardly, as tlie Holy Ghost had always been 
feminine, and Jesus is made to address the Holy Ghost as his ** mother '* 
in every Gnostic Gospel. 

Tripada (Sk,), ** Three-footed ", fever, personified as having three feet 
or stages of development — cold, heat and sweat. 

Tripitaka (Sk.), Lit,, ** the three baskets"; the name of the Buddhist 
canon. It is composed of three divisions: (i) the doctrine; (2) the 
rules and laws for the priesthood and ascetics; (3) the philosophical 
dissertations and metaphysics: to wit, the Abhidharma, defined by 
Buddhaghosa as that law (dharma) which goes beyond (ahhi) the law. 
The Abhidharma contains the most profoundly metaphysical and 
philosophical teachings, and is the store-house whence the Mahayana and 
Hinayana Schools got their fundamental doctrines. There is a fourth 
division — the Samyahta Pitaka, But as it is a later addition by the 
Chinese Buddhists, it is not accepted by the Southern Church of Siam 
and Ceylon. 

Triratna, or Ratnatraya (Sk.). The Three Jewels, the technical term 
for the well-known formula ** Buddha, Dharma and Sangha " (or Samgha), 
the two latter terms meaning, in modern interpretation, ''religious 
law" (Dharma), and the ** priesthood " (Sangha). Esoteric Philosophy, 
however, would regard this as a very loose rendering. The words 
** Buddha, Dharma and Sangha ", ought to be pronounced as in the days 
of Gautama, the Lord Buddha, namely ** Bodhi, Dharma and Sangha "; 
and interpreted to mean ** Wisdom, its laws and priests ", the latter in 
the sense of ** spiritual exponents ", or adepts. Buddha, however, 
being regarded as personified " Bodhi " on earth, a true avatar of 
Adi-Buddha, Dharma gradually came to be regarded as his own 
particular law, and Sangha as his own special priesthood. Nevertheless, 



34^ THEOSOPHiCAL 

it is the profane of the later (now modern) teachings who have shown a 
greater degree of natural intuition than the actual interpreters of 
Dharma, the Buddhist priests. The people see the Triratna in the 
three statues of Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya Buddha ; i.e.y in 
** Boundless Light " or Universal Wisdom, an impersonal principle 
which is the correct meaning of Adi-Buddha ; in the ** Supreme Lord'* 
of the Bodhisattvas, or Avalokiteshvara ; and in Maitreya Buddha, the 
symbol of the terrestrial and human Buddha, the ** Manushi Buddha ". 
Thus, even though the uninitiated do call these three statues ** the 
Buddhas of the Past, the Present and the Future ", still every follower 
of true philosophical Buddhism — called ** atheistical '* by Mr. Eitel — 
would explain the term Triratna correctly. The philosopher of the 
Yog^charya School would say — as well he could — " Dharma is not a 
person but an unconditioned and underived entity, combining in itself 
the spiritual and material principles of the universe, whilst from Dharma 
proceeded, by emanation, Buddha [* reflected ' Bodhi rather] , as the 
creative energy which produced, in conjunction with Dharma, the third 
factor in the trinity, viz,, 'Samgha', which is the comprehensive sum total 
of all real Hfe." Samgha, then, is not and cannot be that which it is now 
understood to be, namely, the actual *' priesthood " ; for the latter is not 
the sum total of all real life, but only of religious life. The real primitive 
significance of the word Samgha or " Sangha " applies to the Arhats 
or Bhikshus, or the '* initiates ", alone, that is to say to the real exponents 
of Dharma — the divine law and wisdom, coming to them as a reflex 
light from the one *' boundless light ". Such is its philosophical meaning. 
And yet, far from satisfying the scholars of the Western races, this 
seems only to irritate them; for E. J. Eitel, of Hongkong, remarks, as to 
the above : *' Thus the dogma of a Triratna, originating from three 
primitive articles of faith, and at one time culminating in the conception 
of three persons, a trinity in unity, has degenerated into a metaphysical theory 
of the evolution of three abstract principles " / And if one of the ablest 
European scholars will sacrifice every philosophical ideal to gross 
anthropomorphism, then what can Buddhism w^th its subtle metaphysics 
expect at the hands of ignorant missionaries ? 

Trisharana (Skj. The same as *' Triratna " and accepted by both the 
Northern and Southern Churches of Buddhism. After the death of the 
Buddha it was adopted by the councils as a mere kind of formula fideiy 
enjoining '* to take refuge in Buddha ", ** to take refuge in Dharma ", and 
**to take refuge in Sangha", or his Church, in the sense in which it is 
now interpreted; but it is not in this sense that the *' Light of Asia " 
would have taught the formula. Of Trikaya, Mr. E. J. Eitel, of 
Hongkong, tells us in his Ha)idbook of Chinese Buddhism that this ** tricho- 



GLOSSARY 343 

tomism was taught with regard to the nature of all Buddhas. Bodhi 
being the characteristic of a Buddha " — a distinction was made between 
*' essential Bodhi " as the attribute of the Dharmakaya, Z.^., "essential 
body " ; " reflected Bodhi " as the attribute of Sambhogakaya ; and 
** practical Bodhi" as the attribute of Nirmanakaya. Buddha combining 
in himself these three conditions of existence, was said to be living at 
the same time in three different spheres. Now, this shows how greatly 
misunderstood is the purely pantheistical and philosophical teaching. 
Without stopping to enquire how even a Dharmakaya vesture can have 
any ** attribute " in Nirvana, which state is shown, in philosophical 
Brahmanism as much as in Buddhism, to be absolutely devoid of any 
attribute as conceived by human Jinite thought — it will be sufficient to 
point to the following: — (i) the Nirmanakaya vesture is preferred by 
the '* Buddhas of Compassion" to that of the Dharmakaya state, 
precisely because the latter precludes him who attains it from any 
communication or relation with the finite, i,e,, with humanity; (2) it is 
not Buddha (Gautama, the mortal man, or any other personal Buddha) 
who lives ubiquitously in ** three different spheres, at the same time ", 
but Bodhi, the universal and abstract principle of divine wisdom, 
symbolised in philosophy by Adi-Buddha. It is the latter that is 
ubiquitous because it is the universal essence or principle. It is Bodhi, 
or the spirit of Buddhaship, which, having resolved itself into its 
primordial homogeneous essence and merged into it, as Brahma (the 
universe) merges into Parabrahm, the absoluteness — that is meant 
under the name of "essential Bodhi". For the Nirvanee, or Dhyani- 
Buddha, must be supposed — by living in Arupadhatu, the formless state, and 
in Dharmakaya — to be that " essential Bodhi " itself. It is the Dhyani 
Bodhisattvas, the primordial rays of the universal Bodhi, who live in 
** reflected Bodhi " in Rupadhatu, or the world of subjective ** forms '* ; and 
it is the Nirmanakayas (plural) who upon ceasing their lives of " practical 
Bodhi', in the "enlightened" or Buddha forms, remain voluntarily 
in the Kamadhatu (the world of desire), whether in objective forms on 
earth or in subjective states in its sphere (the second Buddhakshetra). 
This they do in order to watch over, protect and help mankind. Thus, 
it is neither one Buddha who is meant, nor any particular avatar of the 
collective Dhyani Buddhas, but verily Xdi- Bodhi— ih^ first Logos, 
whose primordial ray is Mahiibuddhi, the Universal Soul, Alaya, whose 
flame is ubiquitous, and whose influence has a dift'erent sphere in each of 
the three forms of existence, because, once again, it is Universal Being 
itself or the reflex of the Absolute. Hence, if it is philosophical to speak 
of Bodhi, which "as Dhyani Buddha rules in the domain of the 
spiritual " (fourth Buddhakshetra or region of Buddha) ; and of the 



344 THEOSOPHICAL 

Dhyani Bodhisattvas " ruling in the third Buddhakshetra " or the domain 
of ideation ; and even of the Manushi Buddhas, who are in the second 
Buddhakshetra as Nirmanakayas — to apply the ** idea of a unity in 
trinity" to three personalities — is highly unphilosophical. 

Trishna (Sk,), The fourth Nidana ; spiritual love. 

Trishaia (Sk,). The trident of Shiva. 

Trisupama (Sk,), A certain portion of the Veda, after thoroughly 
studying which a Brahman is also called a Trisuparna. 

Trithemius. An abbot of the Spanheim Benedictines, a very learned 
Kabbalist and adept in the Secret Sciences, the friend and instructor 
of Cornelius Agrippa. 

Triton (Gr.), The son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, whose body from 
the waist upwards was that of a man and whose lower limbs were those 
of a dolphin. Triton belongs in esoteric interpretation to the group 
of fish symbols — such as Oannes (Dagon), the Matsya or Fish-avatar, 
and the Pisces, as adopted in the Christian symbolism. The dolphin is a 
constellation called by the Greeks Capricornus, and the latter is the Indian 
Makdra, It has thus an anagrammatical significance, and its interpreta- 
tion is entirely occult and mystical, and is known only to the advanced 
students of Esoteric Philosoph3^ Suflftce to say that it is as physiological 
as it is spiritual and mystical. (See Secret Doctrine II., pp. 578 and 579.) 

Trividha Dvara (Sk,). Lit., the ** three gates*', which are body, 
mouth, and mind ; or purity of body, purity of speech, purity of thought — 
the three virtues requisite for becoming a Buddha. 

TviYidyk (Sk,), Lit,, ^^ the three knowledges " or sciences ". These 
are the three fundamental axioms in mysticism: — (a) the impermanency 
of all existence, or Anitya ; (b) suffering and misery of all that lives and 
is, or Dukha ; and (c) all physical, objective existence as evanescent and 
unreal as a water-bubble in a dream, or Andtmd, 

Trivikrama (Sk,), An epithet of Vishnu used in the Rig Veda in relation 
to the *' three steps of Vishnu ". The first step he took on earth, in the 
form of Agni ; the second in the atmosphere, in the form of Vayu, god of 
the air ; and the third in the sky, in the shape of Surya, the sun. 

Triy&na (Sk,), **The three vehicles" across Sansara — the ocean of 
births, deaths, and rebirths — are the vehicles called Sravaka, Pratyeka 
Buddha and Bodhisattva, or the three degrees of Yogaship. The term 
Triyina is also used to denote the three schools of mysticism — the 
Mahay ana, Madhyimayana and Hinayina schools ; of which the 
first is the "Greater", the second the ** Middle", and the last the 
** Lesser " Vehicle. All and every system between the Greater and the 
Lesser Vehicles are considered ** useless". Therefore the Pratyeka 



GLOSSARY 345 

Buddha is made to correspond with the Madhyimdy^na. For, as 
explained, ** this (the Pratyeka Buddha state) refers to him who lives 
all for himself and very little for others, occupying the middle of the 
vehicle, filling it all and leaving no room for others". Such is the selfish 
candidate for Nirvana. 

Tsanagi-Tsanami (Jc^p*)- ^ \dnd of creative god in Japan. 

Tsien-Sin (Chin,), The ** Heaven of Mind ", Universal Ideation 
and Mahat, when applied to the plane of differentiation : ** Tien-Sin '* 
(q.v,) when referring to the Absolute. 

Tsien-Tchan (Ch.J, The universe of form and matter. 

Tsi-tsai (Chin.). The " Self-Existent " or the ** Unknown Darkness ", 
the root of Wtiliang Sheu, ** Boundless Age ", all Kabbalistic terms, which 
were used in China ages before the Hebrew Kabbalists adopted them, 
borrowing them from Chaldea and Egypt. 

Tubal-Cain (Heh,). The Biblical Kabir, **an instructor of every 
artificer in brass and iron '*, the son of Zillah and Lamech ; one with the 
Greek Hephaestos or Vulcan. His brother Jubal, the son of Adah and the 
co-uterine brother of Jabal, one the father of those **who handle the 
harp and organ ", and the other the father " of such as have cattle ", are 
also Kabiri : for, as shown by Strabo, it is the Kabiri (or Cyclopes in 
one sense) who made the harp for Kronos and the trident for Poseidon, 
while some of their other brothers were instructors in agriculture. Tubal- 
Cain (or Thubal-Cain) is a word used in the Master- Mason's degree in 
the ritual and ceremonies of the Freemasons. 

Tullia (Lat,), A daughter of Cicero, in whose tomb, as claimed by 
several alchemists, was found burning a perpetual lamp, placed there 
more than a thousand years previously. 

Turn, or Toom. The ** Brothers of the Tum ", a very ancient school 
of Initiation in Northern India in the days of Buddhist persecu- 
tion. The ** Tum B'hai " have now become the ** Aum B'hai ", spelt, 
however, differently at present, both schools having merged into one. 
The first was composed of Kshatriyas, the second of Brahmans. The 
word ** Tum " has a double meaning, that of darkness (absolute dark- 
ness), which as absolute is higher than the highest and purest of lights, 
and a sense resting on the mystical greeting among Initiates, 
** Thou art thou, thyself", equivalent to saying **Thou art one with the 
Infinite and the All ". 

Turiya (Sk,), A state of the deepest trance — the fourth state of the 
Taraka Raja Yoga, one that corresponds with Atma, and on this 
earth with dreamless sleep — a causal condition. 

Turiya Avasthd (Sk.). Almost a Nirvanic state in Sam&dhi> which 



346 THEOSOPHICAL 

is itself a beatific state of the contemplative Yoga beyond this plane. 
A condition of the higher Triad, quite distinct (though still insepar- 
able) from the conditions of Jagrat (waking), Svapna (dreaming), and 
Sushupti (sleeping). 

Tushita (Sk.), A class of gods of great purity in the Hindu Pantheon. 
In exoteric or popular Northern Buddhism, it is a Deva-loka, a celestial 
region on the material plane, where all the Bodhisattvas are reborn^ 
before they descend on this earth as future Buddhas. 

Tyndarus (Gr,). King of Lacedaemon, the fabled husband of Leda, 
the mother of Castor and Pollux and of Helen of Troy. 

TyphsBUS (Gr,), A famous giant, who had a hundred heads like those 
of a serpent or dragon, and who was the reputed father of the Winds, 
as Siva was that of the Maruts — also ** winds ". He made war against 
the gods, and is identical with the Egyptian Typhon. 

Typhon (Eg,), An aspect or shadow of Osiris. Typhon is not, as 
Plutarch asserts, the distinct ** Evil Principle " or the Satan of the Jews; 
but rather the lower cosmic ** principles " of the divine body of Osiris, 
the god in them — Osiris l)eing the personified universe as an ideation, 
and Typhon as that same universe in its material realization. The 
two in one are Vishnu-Siva. The true meaning of the Egyptian myth 
is that Typhon is the terrestrial and material envelope of Osiris, who 
is the indwelling spirit thereof. In chapter 42 of the Ritual (** Book of 
the Dead"), Typhon is described as ** Set, formerly called Thoth". 
Orientalists find themselves greatly perplexed by discovering Set-Typhon 
addressed in some papyri as ** a great and good god '\ and in others as the 
embodiment of evil. But is not Siva, one of the Hindu Trttntlrtt, described 
in some places as **the best and most bountiful of gods", and at other 
times, ** a dark, black, destroying, terrible " and '* fierce god " ? Did not 
Loki, the Scandinavian Typhon, after having been described in earlier 
times as a beneficent being, as the god of fire, the presiding genius of the 
peaceful domestic hearth, suddenly lose caste and become forthwith a 
power of evil, a cold-hell Satan and a demon of the worst kind ? There 
is a good reason for such an invariable transformation. So long as these 
dual gods, symbols of good and necessary evil, of light and darkness, 
keep closely allied, /.^., stand for a combination of differentiated human 
qualities, or of the element they represent — they are simply an embodi- 
ment of the average personal god. No sooner, however, are they 
separated into two entities, each with its two characteristics, than they 
become respectively the two opposite poles of good and evil, of light 
and darkness ; they become in short, two independent and distinct 
entities or rather personalities. It is only by dint of sophistry that the 
Churches have succeeded to this day in preserving in the minds of the 



GLOSSARY 347 

lew the Jewish deity in his primeval intepjrity. Had they been logical 
they would have separated Christ from Jehovah, light and goodness 
from darkness and badness. And this was what happened to Osiris- 
Typhon ; but no Orientalist has understood it, and thus their perplexity 
goes on increasing. Once accepted — as in the case of the Occultists — 
as an integral part of Osiris, just as Ahriman is an inseparable 
part of Ahura Mazda, and the Serpent of Genesis the dark aspect of 
the IClohim, blended into our ** Lord God " — every difficulty in 
the nature of Typhon disappears. Typhon is a later name of Set, 
later but ancient — as early in fact as the fourth Dynasty ; for in 
the Ritual one reads : ** O Typhon-Set ! I invoke thee, terrible, 
invisible, all-powerful god of gods, thou who destroyest and rendcrest 
desert ". Typhon belongs most decidedly to the same symbolical 
category as Siva the Destroyer, and Saturn — the **dark god". In the 
Book of the Dead^ Set, in his battle with Thoth (wisdom) — who is his 
spiritual counterpart — is emasculated as Saturn- Kronos was and 
Ouranos before him. As Siva is closely connected with the bull Nandi 
— an aspect of Hrahma-Vishnu, the creative and preserving powers — so 
is Set-Typhon allied with the bull Apis, both bulls being sacred to, and 
allied with, their respective deities. As Typhon was originally wor- 
shipped as an upright stone, the phallus, so is Siva to this da}- represented 
and worshipped as a lingham. Siva is Saturn. Indeed, Typhon-Set 
seems to have served as a prototype for more than one god of the later 
ritualistic cycle, including even the god of the Jews, some of his 
ritualistic observances having passed bodily into the code of laws and the 
canon of religious rites of the *' chosen people". Who of the Bible- 
worshippers knows the origin of the scape-goat (cs or aca) sent into 
the w'ilderness as an atonement ? Do they know that ages before the 
exodus of Moses the goat was sacred to Typhon, and that it is over the 
head of that Typhonic goat that the Egyptians confessed their sins, after 
which the animal was turned into the desert ? ** And Aaron shall 
take the scapegoat (Azazel) .... and lay his hands upon the 
head of the live goat, ami cofifei>s over him all the iniquities of the children 
of Israel . . . and shall send him away . . . into the wilder- 
ness" ( Levit,, xvi.). And as the g(;at of the Egyptians made an atone- 
ment with Typhon, so the goat of the Israelites ** made an atonement 
before the Lord " (Ibid.y v. lo). Thus, if one only remembers that every 
anthropomorphic creative god was with the philosophical ancients the 
** Life-giver " and the '* Death-dealer " — Osiris and Typhon, Ahura 
Mazda and Ahriman, etc., etc. — it will be easy for him to comprehend 
the assertion made by the Occultists, that Typhon was but a symbol 
for the lower quaternary, the ever conflicting and turbulent principles of 



34^ THEOSOPHICAL 

differentiated chaotic matter, whether in the Universe or in Man, while 
Osiris symbolized the higher spiritual triad. Typhon is accused in the 
Ritual of being one who ** steals reason from the soul ". Hence, he is 
shown fighting with Osiris and cutting him into fourteen (twice seven) 
pieces, after which, left without his counterbalancing power of good and 
light, he remains steeped in evil and darkness. In this way the fable told 
by Plutarch becomes comprehensible as an allegory. He asserts that, 
overcome in his fight with Horus, Typhon " fled seven days on an ass, 
and escaping begat the boys lerosolumos and loudaios *'. Now as 
Typhon was worshipped at a later period under the form of an ass, and as 
the name of -the ass is AO, or (phonetically) lAO, the vowels mimicking 
the braying of the animal, it becomes evident that Typhon was purposely 
blended with the name of the Jewish God, as the two names of Judea 
and Jerusalem, begotten by Typhon — sufficiently imply. 

Twashtpi (Sk,), The same as Vishwakarman, ** the divine artist ", 
the carpenter and weapon-maker of the gods. (See ** Vishwakarman ".) 

Tzaila (Heb.J, A rib ; see Genesis for the myth of the creation of the 
first woman from a rib of Adam, the first man. It is curious that no 
other myth describes anything like this ** rib " process, except the 
Hebrew Bible. Other similar Hebrew words are ** Tzela, a " fall ", and 
Tzelem, ** the image of God ". Inman remarks that the ancient Jews 
were fond of punning conceits, and sees one here — that Adam fell, on 
account of a wofnan, whom God made in his image, from 2i fall in the 
man's side, [w.w.w.] 

Tzelem (Heb.J. An image, a shadow. The shadow of the physical 
body of a man, also the astral body — Linga Sharira, (See *• Tzool-mah".) 

Tzim-tzum (Kab,j, Expansion and contraction, or, as some Kabba- 
lists explain it — ** the centrifugal and centripetal energy". 

Tziruph (Heb.J. A set of combinations and permutations of the 
Hebrew letters, designed to shew analogies and preserve secrets. For 
example, in the form called Atbash, A and T were substitutes, B and 
Sh, G and R, etc. [w. w. w.] 

Tzool-mah (Kab.J. Lit., ** shadow". It is stated in the Zohar 
(I., 218 a, I. fol. 117 a, col. 466.), that during the last seven nights of a 
man's life, the Neshamah, his spirit, leaves him and the shadow, tzool-mah, 
acts no longer, his body casting no shadow ; and when the tzool-mah 
disappears entirely, then Ruach and Nephesh — the soul and life — ^go with 
it. It has been often urged that in Kabbalistic philosophy there were 
but three, and, with the Body, Guff, four ** principles ". It can be easily 
shown there are seven, and several subdivisions more, for there are the 
" upper " and the ** lower " Neshanuih (the dual Manas) ; Ruach, Spirit or 



GLOSSARY 349 

Buddhi; Nephesh (Kama) which ** has no light from her own substance", 
but is associated with the Guff, Body ; Tzelem, ** Phantom of the Image " ; 
and Dyoohtah, Shadow of the Phantom Image, or Mdynvi Riipa. Then 
come the Zurath, Prototypes, and Tab-rtooth, Form ; and finally, Tzurahy 
**the highest Principle (Atman) which remains above", etc., etc. (See 
Myer's Qahhalah, pp. 400 et, seq,) 

Tzuphon (Heh,), A name for Boreas, the Northern Wind, which 
some of the old Israelites deified and worshipped. 

Tzurah (Heh,), The divine prototype in the Kabbalah, In Occultism 
it embra